


Homecoming

by heyimnotsynthetica (lindzmcc_895)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hurt!Wally, Implied Roy/Jason, M/M, Post Season 2 Fix-It, hurt!Artemis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 14:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindzmcc_895/pseuds/heyimnotsynthetica
Summary: Post-Endgame. Three years after they lost Wally, rumors are swirling that the Light is reforming. The League tries to keep any attempts to reform at bay, while the team is left to find a nameless rogue that has left a bloody trail across two continents. *Reposted from Fanfiction.net*





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Under_the_red_beenie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Under_the_red_beenie/gifts).



> In honor of Season 3 of Young Justice, I’m reposting this fic I wrote right after season 2 back in 2013 on Fanfiction.net and thought Young Justice was as done for good. If you want to read the original with all my angsty 18 year old author’s notes, here it is https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9139481/1/Homecoming
> 
> Happy Reading  
> Lindsee/Heyimnotsynthetica

I'm coming home, I'm coming home

Tell the world that I'm coming home

———————————————————————————

"Aqualad to Tigress, Do you copy?"

"I'm here, what do you need, over?"

"Are you still in Singapore?"

"Yeah, I needed to tell you, I found-"

"I will debrief you later, but right now I need you to take the Supercycle and fly to Taipei. There is a significant magnetic anomaly that is causing seismic activity in the area. Investigate the area, and I will be there shortly to assist you."

Artemis sighed. "Fine. Tigress out."

She glanced around the dark room. The figures were all unconscious or dead, all having sustained critical injuries.

From who though?

She had been tracking the assassins from Nepal, sent by Ra's a Ghul for no apparent reason, and now they were all incapacitated by someone or something that had fled before she arrived.

She examined one of the bodies on the floor, pulling a razor sharp knife out of his shoulder. The blade was double edged, made of a dark metal, and forged into a wicked six inch long curved stiletto with a leather handle.

It reminded her of something else, a weapon she was familiar with, though she couldn't lay a finger on what.

She sighed, glancing around for any other potential clues, but whoever had been here, using this place, she guessed, as a weapons cache or safe house, had cleared out in a hurry, leaving only the bullets and knives embedded in his victims. She slipped the blade into a pocket in her suit, then headed back to the supercycle, which was parked on the rooftop of the building.

Quickly instructing Sphere to locate the magnetic flux, she set off for Taiwan, but continuing to brood over the other case.

Something didn't sit well with her. What was Ra's after? And more distressing, who could single-handedly (well she assumed so, since she had only seen one cot in the safe house) take out a band of his assassins?

She shook hear head, clearing her thoughts. There would be time for that later, she knew, and she needed to focus her attention on the next task.

The next task, a small voice in the back of her mind mused, and after that, the next one, and the next one.

After all, that was her life now. She had not stopped, not taken more than a day off of missions in three years. She had no reason to. Most people believed she was dead, and she had no desire to try to rebuild a civilian life.

Not without him.

She flinched involuntarily at the thought of her dead boyfriend.

Wally.

The light of her life, snuffed out in an instant. Faded, disintegrated, turned to nothingness. Not for the first time she cursed him, not for sacrificing his life to save the planet, but for leaving her completely and utterly alone.

Her better half. Her soulmate. Her adorable idiot.

Brushing away the beginnings of a tear, she shook her head. She refused to allow herself to cry anymore. God knows she had done enough of that to last a lifetime.

"The mission, Artemis, focus on the mission." She repeated to herself. "That's all that matters."

The supercycle came to a rocky landing on the edge of a crater.

In the center was a glowing, pulsing, blob of…something, sending out waves which each dug the crater deeper and wider. When she tried to walk towards the center, Artemis was sent flying back out.

"Can't get in that way." She grumbled. "Of course. Since when has my life ever been that easy."

She tapped a button on her mask, turning on the tiny computer to analyze the waves and their source.

"Definitely magnetic waves, but-" a message flashed across her vision "A wormhole?" She tapped the mask again. "Bullshit."

Suddenly the waves stopped, then a massive, blinding wave of light shot out of the center with a noise like a bomb, flinging her 20 feet into the air. She landed on her back, thankfully in a patch of tall grass, so she was only winded, not injured.

Her ears were ringing as she pushed herself back onto her feet, stumbling back to the rim of the crater.

The waves had stopped, and where the blob of light had been there was now a deeper crater, still faintly glowing but she could make out something lying in the middle.

The remains of whatever machine the Light had planted, she figured. Or more likely the Injustice League, seeing as whatever it was didn't actually do anything particularly horrible or evil, only mildly irritating to her and the poor bastards who were going to have to clean up the mess.

She clambered over boulders and cracks in the earth, making her way over to it. When she reached the center, however, and looked down into the pit, what she saw took her aback.

It was a human figure, curled up into a ball, with his head cradled under its arms, and he was visibly shaking. Not surprising, she thought, as he was completely naked.

She rifled through the pack on her back, finally finding her camp blanket, and she dropped down into the hole beside the figure draping the blanket over him before trying to roll him over.

She pushed him onto his back, moving his arms down to his sides.

When she looked at his face, however, she had to stifle a scream.

Even with his hair long and scruffy, and the ghost of a beard growing on his chin, he was unmistakable.

Wally.


	2. Chapter 2

Home is behind, the world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

—————————————————————————

Artemis couldn't breathe. This wasn't possible. He was gone.

This must be a trick. Some ploy of the Light to-to infiltrate the Justice League or something. She grasped wildly.

Because there was no way this was real. How could it be?

What if it was though? What if, after all this time, something had just brought him back?

She couldn't comprehend this right now.

She pressed her com-link.

"Tigress to Aqualad, do you copy?"

"Affirmative."

"How far out are you?"

"About two minutes. Why? What did you find?"

"I-" she choked "I don't know."

Kaldur paused for a moment.

"Hold on. I will be there in a moment, and then we will investigate. Aqualad out."

She pulled herself out of the hole, not daring to look at the unconscious figure again, and staggered back to the edge of the crater.

She had only to wait for about a minute before the bioship materialized above her and Kaldur dropped down beside her.

He inclined his head back toward the center. "Shall we?"

As they walked back, she informed him of the readings she had gotten before the figure (she couldn't bear to call him Wally) had appeared, especially the flux that had registered as a wormhole.

"That is" he paused, "Perplexing. But we will figure it out, nonetheless."

As they reached the inner crater, Artemis put a hand out to stop him.

"Aqualad wait. Before you look, I need to tell you something. The person, he—he, uh." She took a breath. "It's Wally. At least it looks like him."

Kaldur's eyes widened, but he did not betray any signs of surprise or disbelief. He nodded then stepped forward, dropping into the hole.

He gasped slightly at the sight of the figure, but quickly regained his wits and bent down to press a finger to the man's jugular.

"His heartbeat!" Kaldur called up to her. "It feels like a hummingbird. No normal human being could survive it. We know, then, at the very least, this is a speedster."

Artemis' own heart jumped to her throat.

"But it still could be a clone, or some alien trickery." He bent and lifted the figure into his arms. "Here, help me get him out. We need to take him to the Watchtower."

She reached down and helped pull Wally (or not, she reminded herself) out onto the level ground. She tucked the blanket closer around him as Kaldur pulled himself out beside her.

"I will carry him to the Bioship. I need you to contact Batman and inform him of the…situation."

She nodded.

"Tigress to Watchtower, over."

"Batman. What do you want?"

"Aqualad and I were investigating the magnetic anomaly outside of Taipei, and we found a person in the crater, after the waves subsided."

"Do you have an ID?"

"It's—Wally. At least it appears to be, and Aqualad confirms that his pulse is elevated to a point that only a meta like the Flash could survive."

If it was possible for Batman to be shocked, it would be now, she thought, but he sounded stoic as ever as he replied.

"What is his current condition?"

"Unconscious. Permission to bring him to the Watchtower for medical attention and questioning?"

"Granted."

"Tigress out."

She dropped her hand from the com-link, absently calling Sphere to follow her and Kaldur aboard the Bioship.

They were silent as they flew to the Zeta-Tube in Taipei.

Artemis had no words left. She was in complete shock, not even knowing where to begin collecting her jumbled thoughts.

As they touched down outside the shack that housed the zeta tube, Kaldur looked at her.

"We will get to the bottom of this, Artemis, whatever it is. I promise you that."

"Thank you, Kaldur."

"There is a team of medics waiting for you. You will accompany Wally, or whoever he is, to the Watchtower."

"What about you?"

"I will return the ship to M'gann in Star City, then I will meet you there."

She nodded. "Are you going to tell her?"

"I think for the time being, this is best kept between us. Agreed?"

She nodded a second time, then followed him out of the ship.

The medical team loaded Wally onto a gurney, then pushed him through the zeta tube.

Artemis followed, pausing at the door to look back. She was afraid of what she might find, and she didn't know if she really wanted to.

Kaldur inclined his head.

"Go on. We will discuss this, and your previous mission later."

She collected herself and headed into the zeta tube without another word.

Batman was waiting for them. Wally was rushed off to the med-bay, and Artemis found herself alone with the Dark Knight.

His gaze, even behind the mask, was piercing.

"Was there anything else with him? Any signs of where he had been, or what put him there?"

She shook her head. "Nothing that I saw. There were just magnetic impulses emitting from what registered to the computer as micro-wormhole, and then he appeared out of nowhere, with nothing."

Batman's eyes narrowed, but he nodded.

"Good work. Head over to the med bay and keep an eye on him."

Artemis had to keep herself from sprinting as she walked away.

The rational part of her kept reminding her that this could easily be a trick, a ruse, a plot to infiltrate and bring down the league.

But the rest of her, the part that had been hiding, scared to show emotion or have any attachments, for the last three years, was telling her that it could just as easily really be Wally. That for whatever reason, the universe had decided that she had enough shit happen to her that karma seriously owed her some happiness.

She sat down outside the doors of his room, trying to calm herself down. She could suddenly sympathize with the speedsters. Every moment started to feel like an age, checking her watch just to realize it was only 15 seconds later than the last time she had checked. It was agonizing not knowing anything.

What if it was him? Would he remember her? Would he remember anything? If he did, would he still feel the same about her as he had?

Could she forgive everything that had happened? It wasn't his fault, but his death had broken her. She had filled her life with work and missions to make up for the void that he had left, but it was never enough. She had spent enough sleepless nights sobbing, screaming his name into the darkness, held enough conversations that ended abruptly at the mention of his name, hated herself enough for hating that her friends were happy in relationships.

He was all she had ever wanted, but could she take him back without a question?

Jerking from her thoughts as Doctor Faye emerged from the room, Artemis jumped to her feet.

"What is it? Is he going to be okay? What's wrong with him?"

"One question at a time, Tigress." The doctor wiped her brow. "Yes, he's going to be okay. His body was functioning too quickly, burning his energy stores before he could even use them, so that he couldn't regain consciousness, but we injected him with a serum that slowed his heart rate. Given time, it should enable him to wake up and function normally again."

Artemis sighed in relief. "Good"

"There's more." Doctor Faye looked her in the eye. "We also ran DNA tests so that we could get a positive ID on him, and unless he is a pure genetic clone, that is Wally West."

She felt her heart start a jig again. "Are—are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Of course given the circumstances, we can't rule out the clone theory. Would you like to see him?"

Artemis wordlessly followed the doctor into the room.

Wally was lying on the bed, his head propped up on pillows. He had stopped shaking, but his heart monitor still showed about 275 bpm.

His faced was relaxed now, not contorted in pain or concentration, or whatever it was when she found him.

He looked like Wally, at the very least. Every freckle was as she remembered it.

On a whim, she walked to the far side of the bed, taking his left hand in hers. She turned it over to examine his palm.

It was there. The slightly raised, crescent shaped scar that traced from the bottom of his pinky finger to the pad of his thumb, which he had gotten four years ago while trying to help Artemis make dinner, and accidentally slicing his hand open with a pairing knife.

She laughed a little at the memory.

Dork.

She slumped into the chair beside his bed. It took her a moment to understand what the realization meant.

"Wait. Dr. Faye!" The shorter woman had been just about to leave the room, but turned around at Artemis' outburst.

"Yes?"

"This scar. If he was a clone, would he still have it?"

The doctor's eyes narrowed slightly in thought.

"Perhaps, but only if the person who cloned him knew to replicate it, which, if it wasn't obvious, is unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely. I assume I should inform Batman of this revelation?"

Artemis nodded quickly.

"Yes. Immediately."


	3. Chapter 3

Baby run, cut a path across the blue sky,

Straight in a straight line, you can't get here fast enough

——————————————————————————  
Batman was silent as the doctor explained the situation, including Artemis's discovery, and just gave her a nod, dismissing her.

For the first time in a long time, the Dark Knight was at a loss. He wasn't particularly familiar with how to go about informing people that someone who they had all seen die was miraculously back from the grave. It was an outlying situation, to be sure.

He decided that, for the moment, his best move was to inform the Flash. This was his concern, and he should decide how to proceed.

Barry was helping Iris put the twins, Wallace and Dawn, into their pajamas when Batman called.

"Watchtower to Flash, do you copy?"

Iris' eyebrows went up. Batman didn't usually contact Barry after 8 o'clock, but he reached for his com-link anyway.

"Yeah I copy. What's up, bats?"

"Barry, there's something you need to see. Can you come to the watchtower?"

"Now? It's kinda late, Bruce."

"Now. Believe me, it's important."

Barry shot his wife a guilty look, but she just nodded.

"I understand, honey. I'll finish putting them to bed."

She leaned up to kiss him, Wallace in one arm. The little boy gave a huge yawn and reached out to his father.

Barry kissed Iris, then his son's forehead, and finally his daughter (who was out cold in her rocker.)

"I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you."

The fastest man alive shot out the door.

"Be safe." Iris whispered sadly into the night.

Artemis had lost track of time, but it felt like hours had gone by before Kaldur walked in the room and sat down beside her.

"Any more news on his condition?"

"Not yet. But he should be fine."

"His identity?"

"Everything seems to indicate that it really is him." She took her face in her hands. "But I can't bear to get my hopes up."

Kaldur put a hand on her shoulder.

"I understand. For the moment, however, perhaps you should debrief me on what you found in Singapore."

She nodded.

"Right, well I tracked Ra's a Ghul's assassins several hundred miles from Nepal. They didn't stop for anything, and they didn't change course, which leads me to assume that their target was in Singapore, but by the looks of it, either somebody didn't want them to find what they were looking for, or their target didn't like being followed. When I got to the storehouse, they were all dead or mortally injured, none even conscious enough for me to interrogate them."

Kaldur's brow furrowed.

"What killed them? Did you find any weapons?"

'Bullets mostly, but I did find this." She pulled the knife she had recovered out of her pocket. "The blade reminds me of something, but I can't put a finger on what. Any ideas?"

Kaldur brought the blade up to his eyes, turning it over in his hands.

"The blade is unusually light, wrought in some manner that allowed the use of less metal. I understand what you mean, Artemis, it does remind me of something. It feels foolish, but I cannot place it."

"Give it to Batman. Maybe he can tell us something more."

"Agreed."

He stood up.

"I will leave you for now, but hopefully tomorrow I will return with news."

She nodded, then returned to her silent vigil beside Wally.

It should have only taken the Flash about five minutes to get there, but in true speedster fashion, he took twenty.

"What's so important that you need me at this hour?" Barry's tone was disgruntled.

Batman turned as he entered, pocketing a blade that he had been examining.

"Follow me."

"Sheesh. Somebody has his bat-panties in a twist."

Batman did not dignify this with a response, simply gesturing for Barry to enter the med-bay ahead of him.

"What's going on? Seriously. Is the mystery and fanfare really necessary?"

The dark knight remained silent, opening a door to his left.

As Barry entered, the first thing he saw was Artemis, her Tigress mask removed, and her face in her hand. She was holding the hand of the figure in the bed, who was—

"Wally?"

The speedsters tone was of utter shock and disbelief. He looked from Batman to Artemis, searching for an explanation.

"What is this?!"

"Artemis found him earlier today, in a crater caused by seismic magnetic waves in Taipei. DNA results show that this is Wally, or a remarkably good clone."

" Ughnuuuh…"

"What?" Barry turned to Batman, before realizing that the noise had come from the figure on the bed.

Artemis leaned forward, her eyes wide.

"Wally?"

His eyes snapped open, their green irises darting around the room so fast they appeared blurred.

"Wally, it's me. It's Artemis." Her voice broke. "I'm here."

Barry moved forward to take his nephew's other hand.

"Wally. Wally, relax. You need to calm down."

The redhead's eyes continued their marathon race around the room.

Barry looked up at Artemis.

"What's wrong with him?"

She shook her head.

"He's going too fast, just like when I first found him. I don't think he can slow himself down enough to process what he's seeing. We should get Dr. Faye. Batman-"

But the Dark Knight had already swept out of the room, returning moments later with the dark haired doctor.

She grabbed a syringe filled with a clear liquid and inserted it into the IV at Wally's arm.

"Give it a minute."

They all sat in silent anticipation, waiting for a change.

Slowly, his eyes and his breathing began to slow as his heart rate relaxed.

He closed his eyes again for a moment, and Artemis was afraid he had fallen back to sleep, but then he took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

For a second, he just stared at the ceiling, awestruck, then he turned to Artemis, and promptly burst into laughter.

"W—what?" She turned to the doctor. "What's wrong with him? Does that stuff affect his brain?"

Wally grinned at her.

"It didn't affect my brain, Arty, don't worry. I'm laughing because it actually worked."

Artemis looked to Barry, then to Batman, perplexed.

"Come again?"

"I got out! I didn't think I could do it, but I did!" He flexed his fingers, then started laughing again, gleeful. "It worked!"

"Explain." Batman's tone was final.

Wally calmed himself enough to speak again.

"Well you know how I, like, disappeared?"

They nodded.

"Well I ended up, in, jeez I don't even know." He shook his head. "It was beyond strange. But eventually, I realized that the—I guess you'd call them walls of the place weren't solid, and I broke through."

Artemis scowled, suddenly angry without even understanding why.

"It took you three years to figure that out? Three whole years?"

Wally's face fell.

"It's not like I wanted to." He looked around the room, to Batman, the doctor, the Flash, searching for help, but they all just stared at him, like he was speaking another language.

"Look this place, it was, ugh I don't even know! I can't explain it. I can barely remember it. It was like I had melted. There was nothing but speed, but movement. It was-"

"Heaven?" Artemis interjected bitterly.

"No," Wally shook his head, "It was more like Nirvana. Like all sense of being, of individuality was gone. Like I was everything and nothing at the same time."

Barry pulled his cowl back, a look of dawning comprehension on his face.

"Speedforce. You were pulled into the Speedforce."

"I guess? I don't know."

"That's great and all," Artemis grumbled, "but that doesn't explain what took you so long."

Wally started to look angry.

"Babe, can you give me a break? You said I've been gone, what, three years? Well most of that was spent trying to form a conscious thought. And from there I had to put my psyche back together, one neuron at a time. So yeah. It took me three years. Anyone else would have taken a millennia, if they were able to do it at all. If you ask me, I just lived up to the name of Kid Flash."

Artemis was silent for a moment after that. Wally smirked, looking entirely too pleased with himself for making her speechless.

"How do we know what you say is true?" Batman demanded, "You could still be a clone, for all we know."

"I guess, but you could be a clone for all I know! How on earth can I prove otherwise? I already told you what happened. There were magnetic impulses when I came through, right? Well the magnetic waves are what pushed me into it in the first place! Remember?" The others nodded, but none of them looked convinced. "Seriously? There's nothing else I can do!"

"Actually there is a way." Barry interjected. "You see clones are limited because they can only take on the short-term and muscle memory of whoever they are a clone of. They won't know anything in long-term memory. Just ask him something he would have to remember from the past."

Wally smiled, looking relieved, and turned to Artemis. "Good idea. Ask away, beautiful."

She paused for a moment. This was it. This would prove definitively if this was or was not the one person she had been longing for for the last three years. She almost couldn't bring herself to speak. She didn't want to risk shattering the illusion, if it was one, but she knew she had to.

She cleared her throat, then looked into Wally's eyes.

"What was the first thing I ever called you?"

Wally chuckled.

"Baywatch. After you called me Wall-man, that is. Because I thought we were going to the beach, but nobody waited for me."

Batman and Barry looked to Artemis for confirmation, and she nodded wordlessly.

Wally. Wally. Wallywallywallywallywally.

She took his hand again, staring and running her fingers over it, trying to convince herself he was real.

Barry laughed softly, standing up and wrapping his nephew in a crushing bear hug, and Artemis could see tears starting to fall down his cheek.

"I missed you, kid."

Wally returned the gesture.

"Missed you too, Uncle Barry."

Batman seemed to have decided that his presence was no longer needed, and he and Dr. Faye swept out of the room.

For a few minutes, the speedsters remained that way, hugging each other close and reassuring that they were both really there.

It took Artemis a moment to realize that the low buzzing sound she heard was actually the two talking to each other, at a speed her normal ears couldn't comprehend.

"Kid. Kid! Slow down! I can't understand you!" Wally looked surprised as Barry stopped him.

"You can't? Why? You've always been faster than me."

"That might not be true anymore." Barry considered. "From what Jay told me about his experience with the Speedforce, he was much faster when he got out. I'd be willing to bet you're faster than me now. Bart, too."

Wally's eyes widened. "Faster than you?"

"Yep." Barry looked at him, intrigued. "Meaning that you're officially the fastest man alive."

Wally slumped back against the pillows, shocked.

Barry, however, didn't seem too upset at all. Instead he smiled at his nephew, taking his hand again.

"You know, kid, I've actually been thinking about retiring. I mean, I've been at it for twenty years, and I know Iris wants me to settle down so I can be there for the twins."

"What are you saying?"

"The job's yours, if you want it."

Wally was speechless.

"Tell you what. Think about it for a couple days, then get back to me. Okay?" Barry stood up. "I'm gonna go find someplace to take a snooze. I bet you two have some catching up to do." He smiled, squeezing Wally's hand, and then left the room.

Wally was silent for a moment, before turning to Artemis.

"He's right, you know. We do have a lot of catching up to do."

Artemis nodded. "I guess we do." She rubbed her face, shocked to find it wet with tears she had begun to shed unbidden. "But I'm tired, Wally. I need to sleep. To get my thoughts together. This is all too much." She choked, barely able to stifle a sob.

Wally smiled sadly. "I understand, babe." He reached up to brush away the tears from her cheek.

She felt a pang of joy at the term of endearment. "We can talk tomorrow."

She was about to stand up to leave, but Wally pulled her back towards himself.

"Wait."

"What?"

"There's room here for two, if you want?"

She was about to decline, when she looked into his beautiful, shining green eyes, and all her resolve went out.

"Okay." She nodded. "I'll stay." She kicked off her boots and coat, as Wally scooted over to the right to make room for her.

She crawled in beside him, and a flood of memories came back to her, of all the nights they had spent together, the times he held her close. She nuzzled her face into his shoulder and inhaled deeply.

If she had been told nothing else, she would have known at that moment, without a doubt, that it was really him. He smelled exactly as he had before: like chocolate, and lemon, and sunshine.

"I missed you, Wally. I missed you so much."

He pulled her in closer, tucking her head under his chin.

"Missed you too."

He held her close, and for the first time in a long time, she was able to drift off to sleep peacefully.  



	4. Chapter

Risk it all, 'cause I'll catch you if you fall,

Wherever you go,

If my heart was a house, you'd be home

———————————————————————————

It was a dream, Artemis.

She couldn't bear to open her eyes. She had been having the most beautiful of dreams. Wally had been there, and he was alive and he still loved her, and—

A groan from beside her.

Artemis' eyes snapped open, abruptly aware of the arm holding her tightly against a warm body.

Green eyes stared down at her.

"Morning, beautiful. Least I think it's morning. You can never tell out here."

"Wally?" She still could hardly believe her eyes.

"In the flesh." He grinned, leaning in to kiss her nose. "Or do I have to prove I'm me again?"

"Wally." Before she could stop herself, she pulled his face down and kissed firmly on the lips.

She could feel him smiling against her, his breath tickling her chin. They probably would have continued like that for a while, but they broke apart as Dr. Faye reentered the room, carrying a tray.

She raised her eyebrows at the sight of them, but said nothing.

"I have food for you Wally, and I need you to take these pills. They should help stabilize your heart rate at a normal level for you."

"Thanks, Doc." Wally flashed her a grin as she left the room.

Artemis rolled her eyes as she rolled off the bed. Leave it to Wally to flirt with everything that even vaguely resembled a female. She had gotten over it years ago, accepting that he was physically incapable of not being a flirt, but she was still entitled to give him grief about it.

She picked up the tray and set it down in front of him.

"Eat."

"What about you?"

She smirked at the puppy dog eyes he was giving her. "I need a shower, and then I need to talk to Flash and Batman about what to do with you."

He looked bewildered. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone thinks you're dead, babe. We can't just have you appear out of nowhere without explanation. We need the Team to know that this isn't a trick of the Light."

"But we beat the Light, didn't we? We broke their alliance."

"We thought so, but these days…" She shook her head. "We just can't be too careful."

He looked at her, searching for further explanation, but she shook her head. "Not now. We can talk later, okay?"

He nodded, and she forced herself to walk out of the room.

She walked down the halls, heading for the residential wing of the ship.

She knew in her gut that he was telling the truth, that there was no trick. It was him. She shouldn't second guess the situation: she should just be grateful for what she had.

She rounded the corner to find Aqualad in conversation with Batman, their voices hushed.

"What's going on?" Kaldur jumped, startled at her appearance. Batman was unfazed, as usual, and simply nodded and walked away.

"Did you find something?"

Kaldur nodded solemnly.

"Something, though we cannot be sure what it means." He held up the knife she had found. "This blade is made of the same metal, and wrought in the same manner as Batman's own weapons, which he learned to make while he was training under Ra's a Ghul. We suspect that this person may be a rogue assassin or a former protégé."

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "I suppose it's possible, but since when have any of Ra's men used guns?"

"Perhaps that was a part of why he went rogue. As I said, this is just a theory. We will continue to track the assassins, and perhaps they will lead us to him."

She nodded. A thousand more questions had popped into her head, but she decided they could wait for later, after she had a chance to clear her thoughts.

The Flash had returned by the time Artemis got back to Wally's room.

The two were laughing about something, and looked only slightly abashed when she walked in.

"Do I want to know?"

"No, probably not." Answered Barry, as Wally continued to guffaw.

Artemis shook her head. "Whatever." She returned to her seat. "What are we gonna do? You know, about telling everyone?"

The speedsters exchanged a glance before Barry replied.

"I think we should tell his family first. I can have Iris call his parents and have them come over."

"I agree. They deserve to be the first to know." Artemis concurred. "When can he leave?"

"Doc says he responded well to the meds she gave him, so he's good to go anytime." He turned to Wally. "Whenever you're ready, I mean."

Wally was silent, staring at his hands.

"Kid?"

"I don't know," he lifted his head, looking unnerved. "What are they gonna do when they see me? I mean," he fidgeted with a stray thread on the sheet, "do you think that things could go back to the way they were?"

Barry put a hand on his shoulder. "I can't guarantee that, but I know for a fact that you being alive will make them beyond happy, and I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't welcome you back with open arms. I mean, you got through to Artemis, and we all know she's your toughest critic." The older man winked at her.

Wally nodded. "I guess you're right. Can we go tonight?"

"Sure. Let me go call your aunt, okay?"

Wally nodded, and Barry walked out of the room.

Artemis reached out and gently pulled the IV needle out of his arm.

"Ouch, woman!"

"Oh don't be a baby. Come on, we need to find you some actual clothes, unless you'd like to see your parents whilst going commando in a hospital gown."

He grumbled something about abusing the patient, but swung his legs off the bed and followed her out into the hall.

He paused for a moment in the hallway, looking around at the steel walls and industrial lighting, down to the window at the end which looked out at Earth, several thousand miles away.

"So this is the Watchtower? Huh. I guess I never really got the tour."

"Yes, yes it's impressive. You can look around later. But right now, do you really want anyone to see you in that?" She pointed at the mint green smock.

"Point taken. Lead the way."

He followed her in silence, as she navigated the maze-like halls until they reached a long narrow room whose walls were covered in cabinets.

"Where is everybody?" He asked, shutting the door behind them. "I've never seen the place so quiet."

"Well a few are on Mars, updating the treaties," She rifled through the cabinet labeled The Flash, "But most are on missions on Earth. There's been a flux in activity by some of the lower class criminals. Plus I'm sure that Batman is trying to avoid anyone running into you before we're ready to tell them." She thrust a pile of clothes at him. "Here. These are Barry's. They should fit you."

"Thanks." She turned and walked a little further to her own cabinet, which had only one set of civilian clothing in it.

"So any theories about why the crime rate has gone up?" He asked, his voice slightly muffled as he pulled the shirt over his head.

"Some. We're afraid that the Light might be recruiting again, and that they're competing to see who gets to join the big leagues." She unzipped her skin tight cat suit, letting it drop to the floor, and pulled on her black jeans and grey turtle neck.

"Huh. Well that would suck, given the pain in the ass they were last time." He turned to face her. "How do I look?" He asked as he finished buttoning the blue plaid flannel.

Honestly, though the shirt was a little small for him, his attire and unshaven face reminded her of the rainy days they had spent studying in their condo at Stanford.

She smiled. "Acceptably civilian." She walked over to him and kissed him gently.

They were about to head out to find Barry again, when the door opened and Kaldur walked in.

Wally stiffened as his old friend approached him, but Kaldur simply smiled and clapped him on the shoulders.

"It is good to see you alive and well, my friend."

Wally looked a little shocked, but he nodded. "It's good to see you too."

Kaldur turned to Artemis. "I wanted to inform you that there was another incident that appears to be related to the one you came upon in Singapore. Miss Martian and Superboy responded to a disturbance in Star City, and they found a group of drug smugglers murdered, and their weapons stolen. After running ballistics, we confirmed that the same gun was used to murder Ra's' assassins."

"What are we going to do?"

"Unfortunately, whoever this is seems to be incredibly adept at traveling covertly, and as we have no idea where he is headed, we cannot hope to track him. The best we can hope for is that Ra's will send more people after them, since they seem to have better insight on him. We can attempt to follow them to him."

Wally looked from one to the other.

"I'm so lost." He stated matter-of-factly.

Artemis shook her head, laughing a little. "I'll explain later. Thank you for the update, Kaldur. I'll be available to continue the investigation tomorrow, but-"

"I understand. I can have someone else help me for the time being. You deserve a break."

She sighed. "Thank you."

Aqualad inclined his head to them, then turned on his heel and left.

"So what's going on?" Wally turned to her.

"Later. Let's go find Flash." She held out her hand. "Shall we?"

He didn't look entirely satisfied, but he took her hand and followed her.

The Flash was talking to Batman in the main hall.

"You guys ready?" Barry smiled as they approached "I didn't tell Iris everything, just that I had news and to call Rudy and Mary. I figured the surprise would me more fun."

"I guess." Wally laughed nervously, running a hand through his unruly hair.

"It'll be fine. You know, once they know you're not a robot." Artemis snickered.

"Are you leaving yet?" Batman growled. "Some of us actually have work to attend to."

The dark knight scowled, returning to the holograms he had apparently been studying.

"Sheesh." said Wally, "What's got Bats so pissy?"

"Oh, he has good reason." Artemis and the Flash shared a glance, before breaking down into silent laughter.

"What?!" Wally demanded.

Artemis calmed herself enough to reply. "Shall we just say that he had a moment of indiscretion with Talia a' Ghul, and now he has a four year old demon spawn named Damian running around, and he's driving Bruce up the wall. Tim too."

"Oho?" Wally whistled. "Damn."

"Pretty much." Agreed Barry. "But we should go before he finds some other grievance against us."

The other two laughed, following him to the Zeta-tube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read the original version of this on ff.net, you might notice I wrote this with help from Marauders Punk was who is Under_the _red_beenie on here, and she’s the one who told me to repost this just for the record


	5. Chapter 5

I've got my memories always inside of me,

But I can't go back, back to how it was.

This is home, now I'm finally where I belong

———————————————————————————

Central City was brisk, rather cool for May.

Artemis and Wally trailed a little behind Barry as they walked the four blocks to his home.

Wally's eyes were trained on the ground, but Artemis could practically hear his thoughts racing a million miles an hour. She squeezed his hand gently.

"I'm here, babe. It'll be fine."

"I know it will. I just can't help it." He sighed, pulling her closer to him. She snuggled into his shoulder, still trying to convince herself that it was all real. He felt real enough, and she supposed that acceptance would come later.

"You ready for this?" Barry smiled as they walked up to the porch.

Wally nodded, his face full of apprehension.

They climbed the steps, and Barry opened the front door.

Artemis heard a sigh of relief from inside.

"Barry." Iris approached her husband. "What's going on? You didn't say on the phone-"

"I think showing you would do it more justice." Artemis inhaled as Barry stepped aside for Wally to enter, with her behind him.

At the sight of him, his aunt's eyes widened, and she staggered back a few steps. He took a deep breath and stepped into the living room.

His parents were seated on the couch, his mother with a little red haired girl seated in her lap.

Everything went silent for a moment.

Then Rudolph stood up, glaring at Barry.

"What the hell is this, Allen?" His mustache quivered, "You think this is funny? Huh?" He advanced toward Barry, but Wally stepped between them.

"Dad, this isn't a joke. It's me."

Mary looked anxiously from her husband to Wally, and then to Artemis, her eyes wide and shocked and searching for confirmation.

Artemis smiled and nodded.

The older woman set the little girl down on the couch, where she continued to play with a plastic rainbow pony, and walked over to her son.

"Wally?" She put a hand up to his cheek, "Is it really you?"

He took her hand. "It's me, mom. I'm home."

She sobbed and flung her arms around him, shaking as she cried into his shoulder. He smiled and rubbed her back.

Rudy stared at him, his eyes growing wider.

"Hey Dad." The older man rubbed his eyes furiously before walking over and joining in the hug.

Artemis smiled at their reunion, but she felt a little awkward, standing alone, since Barry had walked over to hold a now sobbing Iris.

After a moment, however, Mary looked up. "Artemis, come over here. You're a part of the family too."

She approached them, and Wally and his mother pulled her into the huddle.

It felt like home.

Wally had gone into the kitchen to help Iris set the table for two extra people (and, Artemis suspected, to steal a bite of her famous spaghetti sauce.)

Barry had filled in his parents on everything that had happened, and Mary turned to Artemis smiling.

"Wally's lucky to have you."

Rudy snorted.

"Yeah. No one else would be able to bail him outta trouble all the time."

"I heard that!" Wally yelled from the kitchen.

"I meant for you to!" Rudy retorted.

Wally reentered the room, looking confused.

"Wait, where's Bart?"

Barry flinched. Artemis had hoped they would avoid this particular topic for the time being.

"He, uh," she cleared her throat. "He got into an argument with Kaldur about two weeks ago, and well, it was pretty bad. He ran out before we could talk him down."

"And?" Wally demanded. "Where is he?"

"Look, Kaldur sent Jaime after him. He just needed some time to cool down, so we agreed to give him space. He'll come back when he's ready."

"What were they arguing about?"

"Uhum." She cast an anxious glance at Barry. "Well—you. Bart's always said that he felt like a fake, taking up the mantle after you, you know, vanished. And something about the last mission just rubbed him wrong, and he started going on about how the Team acted like you never existed, and how it was our fault that you had to sacrifice yourself."

Wally looked stunned.

"Look, it was tough on everyone, but him especially. If you want, we can ask Kaldur if we can go look for them tomorrow. He's fine. I promise. If something had happened, we would know."

He still looked upset, but he nodded.

"Dinner's ready!" Iris called from the dining room. "Come and get it before Barry and Wally-" The speedsters were already at the table stuffing their faces. "—Get to it."

Fortunately, she was too happy to have Wally back to scold him for his abysmal manners, though Artemis still smacked his head as she sat down beside him.

Rudy and Barry started up a conversation about some big basketball game yesterday, and Mary chatted with Iris as she tried to keep the food on her toddlers' plates, rather than each other's faces.

"Wallace, stop pulling your sister's hair!" Iris gently untangled the fork from Dawn's curls.

Wally looked up from his plate, looking from Iris to Barry, his eyes wide.

"You—you named your kid after me?"

Barry smiled. "Sure did. And it fits him too. It's kinda incredible how much he reminds me of you at that age."

"The two year old reminds me of you at twenty, too." Artemis whispered in his ear.

"Hey. I find that offensive." He said in mock affront.

"Oh, suck it up." She poked his cheek.

The adults laughed at the exchange, and Mary smiled. "I never get tired of watching you two together."

Artemis blushed, and Wally laced their fingers together under the table.

The rest of the night was quiet and comfortable.

Barry and Iris put the twins to bed around eight, then they all made themselves comfortable in the living room.

Wally sat on the couch beside his father, and the two were talking in hushed voices. Artemis was lying beside him, with her head in his lap and her legs curled up in front of her.

She didn't catch much of the conversations going on around her; Iris' cooking had put her into a food induced stupor, and the dimly lit room accompanied by the warmth of Wally's lap had her all but asleep in a matter of minutes.

It seemed like only a few moments later, however, that Wally was shaking her awake.

"Babe. Artemis."

"Hmmmm?"

"You need to wake up. It's ten o'clock."

She rubbed her eyes. Mary and Rudy were standing, apparently about to leave. She pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Where are you kids going to go?" His mother asked, "You're welcome to stay with us, if you'd like."

Wally looked down at her, and she scratched her head.

"Well I have an apartment in Gotham, I figured we could stay there until we get things worked out."

Mary nodded. "Okay."

Wally stood and gave his mother a hug. "Love you, mom."

She ruffled his hair. "Oh sweetie, I've missed you so much."

Rudy clapped his son on the back. "I've missed you too, kid. And if you ever go die on us again, I'll kill you." His tone was gruff, but he winked.

He was about to leave, but then paused for a moment. "Also, feel free to get the dog whenever you like. He keeps eating my newspapers before I get a chance to read them."

Artemis laughed. "We will. Soon." She had almost forgotten about Brucely. She couldn't bear to have the dog, that had been a fourth-anniversary present from Wally, with her, but she also didn't want to have to give him up, so his parents had offered to keep the pup for a while.

They said their goodbyes to Barry and Iris, then set off back to the Zeta-Tube, which took much less time than it had the first time, since Wally decided to test out his speed and swept her into his arms, carrying her the whole way.

"Whooooh!" Wally exclaimed as he set her down. "Man that feels good."

Artemis pushed her windblown hair out of her face.

"Was that really necessary? Look at me." She pulled a leaf out of her collar.

He feigned a look of thoughtfulness. "Erm, yes. Yes it was."

She rolled her eyes and stepped into the "Employees Only" entrance to a Chinese restaurant that had been closed for five years, and now served as a zeta tube.

Moments later, she found herself in Downtown Gotham city, still bustling and lively. Wally materialized beside her.

"Lead the way, beautiful."

She turned and headed away from the buzzing square, ducking into a back alley, Wally on her heel.

"Uhh, babe? Isn't this part of town kinda, um-"

"Dodgy? Yeah. But it's also cheap, and it's not like I'm here all that often anyway."

She approached a rather non-descript grey building, climbing the steps to the fourth floor apartment, and removed a key from between the doorframe and the wall.

He followed her into the tiny apartment, which was dark and smelled like dust and cats.

Flipping on the switch beside the door, he turned on the lights, which flickered a bit before illuminating the room.

"Um, wow this place is, uh…"

"A dump. I know. But it works." She sighed, dumping her pack onto the couch.

The same couch, he noticed, from their home in Palo Alto. The rest of the room was filled with cardboard boxes, few of which looked like they had been opened in the last few years.

"It doesn't really look like you ever really moved in." He examined one of the top boxes, which was filled with dishes and cutlery.

"Well, like I said. I don't live here. On missions I usually just crash wherever I can, and between assignments, I stay at the Watchtower."

"I get that, but what about when you have a break?"

She laughed, humorlessly. "Break? This is the closest thing I've had to a break since you…" She trailed off. It still hurt to think about.

He turned to her, looking upset.

"So…you didn't even try to get back into the world? To move on?"

"Not really, no."

"Why?"

She sighed. "Do you really have to ask?" She shook her head. "Look, it doesn't matter okay? Just forget about it." She turned away, about to walk to the bedroom, but he caught her arm, spinning her back to face him.

"No. I'm not gonna forget about it. You're gonna talk to me. Right now. No more putting it off."

Her brow furrowed, and she chewed on her lip for a moment before slumping on to the couch.

"Okay, um" She pursed her lips. "I'm trying really hard to take all of this in stride, to act like I can just go back to how things were, no problem, but…I don't know that I can."

He sat down beside her.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it took me a year, Wally, a whole year to even be able to look at myself in the mirror. Because everything I was, everything about me reminded me of you." She shook her head. "God, it sounds corny, but I really was me because of you. And this-" She gestured to the boxes filling the room. "How was I supposed to pick up the pieces without you? Civilian life only had meaning to me because I shared it with you."

She could feel her eyes filling with tears again. She hated to admit it, but after three years of trying to be made of stone, it felt good to just let it out.

"How could I know who to be, when I couldn't face who I'd been?"

Wally was silent, staring at his feet.

"And now you're back, and I'm happy, Wally. Believe me, I'm happy, but where do we even start? How do we get back to anything like we had? I want to, but I don't know how."

Her eyes fell to the filthy gray carpet.

They stayed like that for what seemed like ages, silent and downcast.

After a while, however, he reached out and took her hand.

"I know this is hard. I can't imagine what I put you through and I'm so, so sorry."

"It's not your fault." Her voice cracked.

"It doesn't matter, I'm still sorry. And I know things can't just bounce back." He reached up and turned her face towards him. "You're strong, but you're not a superball." He chuckled softly. "I don't expect things to be the way they were before, but that doesn't mean we can't fix things. Hey." He kissed her nose. "I love you, and that's all I need to know to be sure we're gonna make it through this, and be stronger for it."

She sniffed, then wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you."

He chuckled softly. "Anytime, babe."

She enjoyed the embrace for a while, relishing the feeling of him holding her close, gently rubbing circles on her back. Eventually she leaned back, furiously wiping away her tears.

"I'm good." She forced a smile.

"No you're not. But you will be."

She shrugged, standing up. "Well I, for one, am going to bed. You coming?"

He smiled, and followed her to the bedroom at the end of the hall.

It was mostly empty, like the rest of the apartment, but the bed at least seemed to have been slept in at some point.

Artemis turned and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

"I love you."

Wally pulled her in closer, tilting his head so he could kiss her harder.

She took his hands in her own, moving them from her waist to the top button of her jeans. He raised an eyebrow, but she just held him against her, slowly edging over to the mattress.


	6. Chapter 6

And we're caught in the crossfire

Of Heaven and Hell

And we're searching for shelter

————————————————————————————

"Blue Beetle to Aqualad, do you copy?"

"Indeed. Are you and Kid Flash in danger?"

"Not at the moment. Listen, I don't have much time and I don't want Kid Flash to know I'm contacting you. We caught the trail of a band of assassins, and it looks like they're headed to Gotham City. I don't think we can take them alone, but I can't really explain that to Kid. Could you meet us there?"

"Affirmative. Be careful, and try not to engage until I reach you."

"Understood. Blue Beetle out."

Kaldur held his head in his hands. At least now he knew where the mysterious rogue was headed, if Ra's was tracking him there.

He briefly considered calling for backup. Artemis would have been his first choice, but as she was otherwise occupied, perhaps Zatanna or Rocket? He decided against it.

It was apparent that a head-on attack would be ineffective against this particular adversary. He was tempted to contact Blue Beetle to try to get them to stop tracking the assassins, but he knew it would to no good.

This he would have to do alone.

Aqualad tapped into the camera feeds of surveillance cameras around Gotham, then instructed the computer to search for any signs of a struggle or a fast moving, large group of people.

He sat in waiting for what felt like hours, until the computer beeped, indicating that it had found a match.

About two miles away, there appeared to be a group of people approaching an abandoned factory by the river.

Kaldur set off at top speed across the roof tops, until at last he reached his destination. He climbed through a broken window just in time to see two assassins attempt to take on a single figure wearing a red helmet, completely hiding his face.

The rest of the band lay crumpled on the ground surrounding them.

One of the two men attempted to lunge at the figure holding a katana, but was literally caught dead in his tracks as his target pulled out a pistol and fired it before Kaldur had even seen him move.

The final assassin backed away from the red helmed figure, who dropped the gun at his own feet.

"Here" he taunted. "I'll make things even. I won't even use a gun." The voice sounded familiar to Kaldur, though he could not place it.

The assassin yelled and sprinted at him, but he sidestepped, and with a spectacular aerial spinning kick, caught the man's head between his ankles and snapped his neck, then ran, disappearing into the darkness.

Kaldur did not even try to pursue him. He was trying to process what he had just seen, most especially the feat of acrobatics that had ended the final assailant.

Because he had seen that move used before, though then it was performed without killing the target.

Hell, he had had it used on him in training.

After all, it was one of Nightwing's signature takedowns.

"You mean you don't have anything to eat here?"

Artemis laughed, shaking her head.

"No, but we can go get something if you'll put some clothes on." She eyed her boyfriend's bare torso. "Not that I mind the view."

"I could say the same." Wally chuckled.

She was wearing little more than an old sweatshirt of Wally's with a faded Flash logo on it.

"There's a little bakery down the street, if you want, and I'm like ninety percent sure it won't give you food poisoning."

Wally snorted, pulling her close to him again.

"Well that's reassuring."

"Mmm." She leaned up and kissed him. "But seriously. I have like four boxes of your clothes in the closet."

While Wally rifled through the closet, Artemis went to take a shower (she unfortunately forgot that the shower only stayed hot for about two minutes before turning icy.)

She walked back into the bedroom, ringing her hair out with a towel.

Wally was sitting at the end of the bed wearing a black jacket and his favorite faded and holey jeans. He was looking at something in his palm, but he closed his hand as she approached.

"Hey." He smiled, but something in his eyes was sad.

"What's the matter?"

He sighed. "I just can't help think about how different your life could have been if I hadn't disappeared."

She sat down beside him, taking his cheek in her hand. "You can't change what happened, but we can make a better future."

He looked up, meeting her eyes. "I was gonna ask you to marry me, you know. As soon as we got back. Had a ring and everything. Still do, actually." He opened his hand, revealing a delicate diamond band.

She stared from him to the ring, shocked. "Wh—what?"

"And I know it's not particularly romantic," he continued, "but the offer is still there. If you want."

She blanched, unable to respond.

"You don't have to answer right now." He sounded a little defeated at her silence. "I can keep this, and we'll talk about it later."

As he was about to slip the ring into his pocket, but she caught his hand.

"Or I could hold onto it?"

Wally's eyes were wide with disbelief, but then his face broke into a wide grin.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." She leaned over and kissed him again, taking the band from his hand.

She pulled back after a moment, quirking an eyebrow at him. "I am a little curious where you hid it, though."

He laughed. "It was in my lucky socks. You know those orange ones I've had since I was twelve? I figured that you would never find it there, since you wouldn't ever want to touch them."

"You're so gross." She rolled her eyes, but hugged him anyway, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. "But I love you."

The two of them walked hand in hand down to the bakery on the corner, where they were served coffee by a blue-haired, gum-smacking waitress.

Wally closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on his face.

"Man it feels like years since I've been outside."

Artemis glared at him.

"Too soon?"

"You think?"

He laughed at the face she was giving him. "Sorry babe." He took her hand across the table. "So what's been going on? Where is everybody else?"

She fingered the ring, which she had put on a chain around her neck for the time being.

"Well M'gann and Connor are living in Star City, and Garfield usually stays with them. They're still on the team, but right now they're keeping an eye on the city while Green Arrow and Black Canary are on Mars. Mal and Karen are married. He still helps out sometimes, but she's been busy working on her PhD."

Wally whistled. "Impressive."

Artemis nodded in agreement. "Pretty much. Cassie and Tim have been going out for a couple years, and they're both starting college in September. La'gann is still on the team, I think, but I haven't really seen him much. He's been avoiding me since-"

She snickered.

"What?"

"Uhum, well he asked me out about a year ago. I tried to turn him down nicely, but that was seriously all kinds of not happening."

Wally snorted into his bagel. "Wow. That's uh, wow."

"Yeah." She bit into her Danish.

"So," Wally's voice was thick, "Where's Dick?"

Artemis gulped. Another subject she didn't particularly want to address.

"I haven't really seen Dick since you..." She cleared her throat. "Actually, the only person I know has seen him is Babs, and she didn't really give details. I guess he-"

She was cut off by her com-link buzzing in her bag, and she hastily pulled it out of her bag and put it in her ear, walking around the corner to the alley so she could not be overheard.

"Aqualad to Tigress, do you copy?"

"I'm here."

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but there is an urgent matter that I need you to see to."

"What happened?"

"I caught the trail of more assassins in Gotham, and I got there just in time to see a figure in a red helmet kill the last of them. He disappeared, but right now I need you to go check on Dick."

Her brow furrowed. What the hell?

"Dick. Why?"

"I know it seems strange, but I saw the rogue perform an acrobatic takedown that I have only ever seen one person successfully perform."

"Dick. You think it's him?"

"I sincerely hope not, but given this and the knife we found, it seems to be the likeliest answer."

Artemis shook her head. "This is insane. But I'll go check on him."

"One more thing. I think it is advisable that you take Wally with you. He will be able to get through to Dick in a way that none of us can."

She nodded.

"Understood. Tigress out."

Wally had paid the bill and was standing waiting for her when she returned.

"What was that about?" He sounded concerned.

"I'm not entirely sure, but Kaldur wants us to go check on Dick."

"Uh, okay? Did he say why?"

"He thinks he might have gone rogue, and he needs us to try to talk to him."

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't protest as they got on the subway headed to Blüdhaven.

Artemis crossed her fingers that Dick hadn't moved from the abandoned warehouse apartment he used to live in.

They walked up to the second floor, knocking on the door to the apartment.

A minute passed, before the lock grinded and the door swung open to reveal a scruffy and bleary eyed, but unmistakeable, Dick Grayson.

He looked warily from Artemis to Wally then nodded.

"Yep. Definitely drank too much last night." He was about to close the door again, but Artemis caught it.

"Dick wait. We're actually here, and we need to talk."

His brow furrowed. Then he turned and called back into the apartment.

"Barbara, can you come here for a sec? I need to check if I'm hallucinating."

"Again?" Babs sounded disgruntled as she emerged around the door.

Her eyes grew wide as saucers when she saw Wally.

"Wally? Is it really you?"

He nodded, staring at his best friend.

Barbara looked to Artemis, then opened the door for them. "I guess you should probably come in."

They followed her into the dark room, which was strewn with Chinese takeout boxes and empty beer cans.

Dick promptly slumped into an old sofa chair, still looking at Wally as though he were a mirage.

"What's going on?" asked Barbara. "How is he alive?"

"Long story, but it turns out he wasn't actually ever dead, just sucked into some alternate speedster dimension."

Barbara's eyebrows flew up into her unruly red hair.

"Uh, wow. Okay. So what are you doing here? Unless you're just coming to say hello?" She sounded suspicious.

Wally wasn't really listening to the exchange.

"Geez, Dick. You look like shit."

Dick tilted his head, his bloodshot eyes sizing Wally up.

"And you look oddly real."

"I am real, dude. But seriously what happened to you?"

Dick rubbed his eyes again.

"What happened to me? You died Wally. You were my best friend, and you died! What the hell was I supposed to do?!"

"Look." Artemis stepped between them. "Now is not the time for this. We're not here for a personal visit."

"Then what are you here for?" Dick turned to her.

"Okay, look." She searched wildly for a delicate way to address the situation. "Have you been, um, I mean…Are you-"

Wally cut her off. "Did you fall so far off the deep end that you decided to go rogue and piss off Ra's a Ghul?"

Artemis clapped her hand to her face. Way to be delicate, Wally. Always so kind and compassionate.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dick glared at him. "I didn't do any of that. Hell, I haven't left the apartment in three days."

Artemis' eyes widened, then she looked to Babs for conformation.

"It's true," she said. "I've been with him the whole time. Most of which he spent puking up his beer and Kung-Pao Chicken."

"Then what-" but Artemis was cut off again by her com-link.

"Aqualad to Tigress, do you copy?" Kaldur's tone was uncharacteristically panicked.

"I copy. What's the matter?"

"Blue Beetle and Kid Flash were tracking the assassins, and their tracking signals just disappeared off the map. I attempted to contact Blue Beetle, but there was no reply. I fear that our rogue may have gotten to them."

"If that's true, then it's definitely not Dick."

"How can you be sure of that?"

"Because I'm looking at him, and his alibi is pretty solid."

Aqualad was silent for a moment. "Very well. We can investigate this man's identity later, but at the moment, our first priority must be the safety of Blue Beetle and Kid Flash. We must try to rescue them, but I am low on reinforcements at the moment. I will contact Miss Martian and Superboy, and send you our coordinates when we find them."

"Understood. And Kaldur-" She looked around the room, and idea occurring to her. "I can bring my own reinforcements. Tigress out."


	7. Chapter 7

It's a long way from Miami to LA,

It's a longer way from yesterday to where I am today...

——————————————————————————  
It ended up not being difficult to find Kid Flash and Blue Beetle.

Conspicuously easy, actually, considering their trackers had been deactivated.

Aqualad canvassed the area where he had last seen the rogue, and found a clerk at a 24-hour convenience store that had seen him take off towards the old ship-yard.

With the aid of M'gann and Connor, a few hours and empty storehouses later, they found the place.

The building was dark and empty, with two figures suspended in a cage hanging from the ceiling.

Bart and Jaime appeared to be unconscious, and wearing inhibitor collars, like those used at Belle-Reve.

M'gann flew up to inspect the cage, but she got shocked when she tried to touch it.

"Oh, come on. You didn't honestly think it was gonna be that easy, did you?"

The man with the red helmet emerged from the shadows on the platform on the far wall. "Just because I let you find me doesn't mean I'm gonna let them go."

Kaldur narrowed his eyes. "It is unwise for you to try and engage us. You are outnumbered. Release our friends and we will be on our way."

The figure snorted. "Right, because being outnumbered has been such a problem for me. You saw what I did to those assassins last night. And I took out two of your metas without breaking a sweat. I may be outnumbered, but you are outmatched."

"We'll see about that." Superboy snarled. He lunged at the man, but when he landed where he had been standing, the man was gone.

Kaldur looked up to the ceiling: the man had jumped and caught a hold of one of the ropes hanging there, swinging from one to another like Tarzan until he landed on top of the cage.

"Sheesh. Anger issues, much?"

M'gann floated up to him and tried to incapacitate him telepathically.

"Mmm… nope." He whipped a flamethrower off his back and fired it at her, causing her to fly back into the wall.

"You Martians. Always so predictable."

The man's sarcastic tone was grating on Kaldur's nerves.

"You would not be so cocky if you fought fair like the rest of us."

"Fair? Please. Nothing in this world is fair—I'm just not willing to give up the upper hand."

"Guess we'll just have to take it then." A voice said from the other end of the room. Tigress fired an arrow at the man, which exploded a foot or so in front of him, sending him flying back on to the floor.

Any normal person would have fallen flat on their back, but the man turned over in the air, landing in a crouch.

"More friends. Wonderful." His voice no longer sounded remotely amused, as Batgirl emerged beside her.

He dropped a smoke pellet, trying to lunge back up to the ropes, but another figure had materialized right behind him.

"Not so fast." Nightwing swept his legs out from under him, but he caught himself on his arms and flung himself back onto his feet.

As the smoke cleared, the others could see the two engaged in combat. If anyone could be the rogue's equal, other than Batman himself, it was Nightwing.

They dived and darted at each other, maneuvering and flipping too fast to follow their movements.

After a moment, however, Dick froze. It took Kaldur a moment to process why, then he saw the pistol pointed at his face.

"Nice try, Shaggy." The man taunted. "But I win. Again."

Suddenly, however, the gun had disappeared from his hand as a blur of red shot past him.

"Or not." The Flash laughed, waving the gun.

"Ugh." He snarled. "Whatever. Take them. I don't feel like babysitting anyway. In fact I don't care to pick a fight with you at all. Leave me alone, and we'll all be happy."

Before Nightwing could stop him, he jumped and caught the banister, swinging himself up onto the ledge.

"The name's Red Hood, by the way." He yelled as he disappeared back into the darkness.

Nightwing moved to chase him, but Aqualad clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"No. We can pursue him later, but Blue Beetle and Kid Flash are our primary concern."

He sighed. "Fine."

Kaldur smiled. "It is good to see you my friend."

Tigress shot an arrow at the door of the cage that held the younger heroes, breaking the lock so that Miss Martian and Superboy could carry them down and remove the inhibitor collars.

Artemis turned to Kaldur. "You take them back to the Watchtower. Flash and I can do a perimeter to try to catch his trail."

"Agreed."

Bart was not feeling crash. At all.

As if the pounding headache he had from getting knocked out by the dude with the red helmet wasn't enough, Kaldur decided to call a meeting immediately afterwards so he couldn't even go find something to eat.

He was still trying to clear his head as he stood beside Jaime, while Kaldur briefed the rest of the team on the current situation.

Tim scratched his head as Kaldur finished. "Um, I get that this guy is an issue, but why did you need all of us to be here?" He looked around the group.

It was true. Garfield, M'gann, Conner, Cassie, Barbara, La'gaan, and even Dick was there. The only person missing was Artemis, and Kaldur had said she would be there shortly.

Kaldur swallowed.

"Is this about Artemis' last mission?" asked M'gann.

"In a way, yes. But first-"

"Recognize, Tigress. B-07. Recognize, Flash. B-03" The computer cut him off as Tigress and the Flash materialized.

"Did you find anything?" Kaldur turned to them.

Tigress shook her head. "Nothing."

Bart's eyes narrowed as he watched her and the Flash join the circle.

Something was wrong.

The Flash was moving differently, somehow, like it was taking more effort to move at human speeds. Barry always had a certain nonchalance about the way he moved. He'd been a speedster for long enough, knew his powers well enough to be able to act normal without any effort.

And this person most definitely wasn't Barry.

Bart sped up to him, blocking his way.

"You're not the Flash."

Jaime and everyone else turned to him, surprised.

"Of course he is, hermano. What's your problem?"

The Flash laughed. "It's fine. I think what he's trying to say is that I'm not Barry Allen, and that's true."

Silence. Bart saw Artemis exchange a nervous glance with Kaldur.

"Wha—Who are you then?!" Demanded Connor.

The man reached up and pulled back the cowl to reveal a familiar ginger head.

Wally West smiled at them. "Did you miss me?"

Artemis didn't know what reaction to expect when Wally just whipped his cowl off without a second thought.

The first person to make a sound after the reveal was M'gann.

"Wally?" She gasped, before running to hug him. Quick to follow her was Connor, who patted him so hard on the shoulder that his knees nearly buckled.

Similarly overjoyed were Cassie and Garfield, though Gar first turned to Dick, scowling.

"I thought we had agreed to not fake anybody else's death!"

Dick shrugged. "Don't look at me. I thought he was dead too."

"I didn't." Interjected Tim. "I figured from the beginning that he got stuck in the speedforce."

All eyes turned to him.

"You did?" Dick growled. "And yet you didn't bother sharing this with anyone?"

Tim raised his eyebrows. "Why would I? There was no way I could be sure I was correct, or any way for us to help him get out. It would have just given everyone false hope."

Bart was silent, staring at Wally openmouthed, and then out of nowhere, he just took off.

Jaime watched him go, then turned to Wally, looking angry, and shook his head.

"What the hell, man?" He scoffed then walked away.

Wally looked at his retreating figure, bewildered, and then to Artemis.

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't honestly say she was surprised by that reaction. Wally's death, and now evident lack thereof, had been hard on Bart, to say the least, and as his best friend, Jaime knew that all to well.

Apparently deciding Bart was the more pressing concern, Wally took off after the younger speedster.

Wally found Bart sitting against the railing of the upper observation deck, his feet dangling over the ledge.

Bart looked at him as approached, then turned back to the window, his expression stony.

The older redhead sat down beside him, silent for a moment, then spoke.

"Look I'm not gonna pretend that I understand how you feel right now, but can I at least try to explain myself?"

Bart sighed, shaking his head. "I get it. If you really were in the speedforce, like Tim said, then it's not like you had any choice."

"I still left, whether I wanted to or not. You have a right to be mad."

"I'm not mad, really. It's just-" his eyes looked sad. "I felt like a fake, trying to take your place. I didn't deserve to be Kid Flash."

"What are you talking about?" asked Wally, incredulous. "You were way faster than me. You were born into the Flash legacy."

"That doesn't mean I deserved it. I mean, I know the stories. You had to work for it. You had to earn your place every step of the way, and then I come in and just get handed everything on a silver platter. And after you—you know, I realized that if I hadn't come back, you would still be there! In the future, you were married, you had kids, a life, and I just took that away."

"But you didn't, Bart. I'm here. I'm fine."

Bart raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. As of about two minutes ago, and I'm still not sure how to take that. But feeling guilty about it wasn't even the worst part."

He slammed his fist on the floor. "Nobody except the League knew what you did. The entire rest of the world didn't even know that your sacrifice was the only thing that prevented the world from exploding. Like I would go on missions with Flash, and reporters would start asking me about something you had done with Flash years ago, not even noticing that I wasn't the same person."

Wally was speechless.

"On that last mission where I went off on Kaldur, a girl came up to me, thanking me for saving her school from getting frozen by Captain Cold when she was ten. But it wasn't me she should have been thanking! And I couldn't help but think that you deserved better than that. I know the League doesn't want to publically acknowledge our fallen, but you saved everyone, and they don't even know it."

Wally put a hand on his shoulder. "I get what you're saying, Bart, but there's something you gotta remember. Just because we have special powers and flashy costumes and people know our names, doesn't mean that, beneath that, we're anything more than soldiers.

"We fight for the world, we sacrifice ourselves for it, and ultimately, the world knows that the Justice League and the Team saved them; they don't know exactly what any of us do, and honestly it's better that they don't. It's not about individual recognition. Sometimes, even we have to die, nameless, for the greater good. And I know for me, knowing that I was missed by the people who I loved is enough."

He smiled sadly. "And about you coming back, you did what you had to. I'm sorry that you've felt guilty about that, but you didn't need to, even if I was really dead. You do realize that without you, the Reach would have succeeded, right? You saved the world, not me. Cause if I was alive in your time, I failed. Don't doubt that you deserve to be Kid Flash, because believe me, speaking as the original, you really, really do."

Bart stared at him for a moment, then leaned over and hugged him.

"Thanks Wally."

"No problem, kid." It felt weird to call someone else that.

"So you're the Flash now? That was fast."

Wally snickered. "Nice pun. And not officially, no. Barry gave me the suit and told me to take it out for a spin, you know, see how it feels. He's taking the week off, and then at the end of the week I'll decide whether I'll become this permanently."

"Soooo did the Speedforce give you any crash new powers?"

"Not that I've discovered yet, no. Although," He grinned. "I have wanted to test out my speed. See if Barry was right that I'm faster now."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yep. First one to make it to Gotham from Central City?"

"You're on."


	8. Chapter 8

Let me go,

I don't want to be your hero

I don't want to be a big man

I just want to fight like everyone else

—————————————————————————

Wally was laughing when he got back to the Watchtower, where Artemis was talking with Kaldur and Dick.

"I beat him, babe, I actually beat him!" he pulled the cowl off again. "I mean, I knew I was faster now, but wow!"

She smiled for a moment. "That's great Wally."

He approached them. "Trying to figure out who 'Red Hood' is?" He used air quotes.

Kaldur nodded. "Unfortunately, we seem to have hit a dead end. I believe we should consult with Batman and the other League members to see if they have ever heard of him."

Dick nodded, shaking his lanky hair out of his face. "Probably." He turned to Wally. "Hey, can we talk?"

Wally raised his eyebrows but consented, kissing Artemis on the cheek before following Dick.

They came to one of the ship's kitchens, which had a window facing out towards the Earth.

Wally rummaged through the fridge before grabbing two sodas and sitting beside Dick on the barstools, handing him a can.

They were silent for a few minutes, sipping absently on their Cokes.

"So." Wally smacked his lips.

"Yeah." Dick raised his eyebrows.

"What am I supposed to say, Dick? I'm sorry? That doesn't really feel like it covers it."

Dick nodded, still staring at the linoleum counter top. "No, it really doesn't."

"So, we're just gonna sit here twiddling our thumbs? Look if you have something to say, just say it already."

"Where do I start? I mean things were already screwed up and getting worse between us when you died, and then I got a nice long time to marinate in the fact that it was all my fault. And believe me, I know it was all my fault.

"But at the same time, after loosing my parents, after loosing Jason, I never thought that you would leave me too."

Wally nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek. "I am sorry about that, but we both know that me dying isn't the elephant in the room."

"No, it's not. Look, the mission when you quit, I know I was way out of line. I was just trying too hard to be Bruce, but I know that's no excuse for using Artemis as bait. I know it's my fault that she got hurt, and that you left. I know I had no right to drag you back into everything, to go behind your back asking Artemis to help. And I know that you have absolutely every reason to hate me, but please know that I am so, so sorry. For all of it."

Dick held his face in his hands.

It took Wally a moment to respond. A part of him was still angry at Dick for all of it, but the other part of him really just wanted, after all these years, to have his best friend back. And at the same time he couldn't really claim that everything had happened entirely because of Dick—he'd be lying if he tried to say that he hadn't been looking for a reason to quit, other than going off to Stanford, and he knew that Artemis had never entirely wanted to quit, and she had been waiting for an excuse to go back.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, look. I'm not gonna pretend that I'm not mad about all that, but—I feel like this whole thing has given me a fresh start, and I think I owe you, us, the same. And to be honest, I kinda miss having my wingman."

Dick looked incredulous, but smiled as Wally offered him his hand.

"Bros?"

"Bros."

They sipped their sodas in silence for a few minutes before Wally smacked his lips and turned back to Dick .

"So." He belched in true speedster fashion. "You and Babs, huh?"

Dick chuckled weakly. "Yep."

"Not that I didn't completely see that coming, but how'd it happen?"

The younger man shrugged. "Eh, I'm a little fuzzy myself. I guess, I was really having a hard time after you—disappeared, and one day she just shows up at my door with a bunch of old Kung-Fu movies and junk food, like 'I know you're upset, I am too, but you need to get your mind off this.'" Dick smiled at the memory. "She kept coming over like that every couple of days for a month or so, and then she started coming more frequently, and we started going out for ice cream some nights, and then one day I realized she had a drawer of clothes in my dresser, and my shower smelt all flowery."

Wally laughed with him.

Dick sighed after a moment. "But really, she was the thing that got me through. I mean, there were still times when I would look around me and feel like I had failed everyone, and she was there to knock sense into me when I needed it, and other times just her being there was enough."

Wally raised his eyebrows. "Dude. When did you turn into a girl?"

Dick snorted and shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe it's the flowery soap."

The two laughed together, looking, for the first time in a long time, like the same friends they had been eight years ago.

Dick hadn't spoken to his mentor in months, so he didn't really know what to expect when Alfred let him into the Batcave.

Bruce was sitting at the computer, analyzing the video Kaldur had taken of Red Hood.

"What brings you here, Richard?" Batman didn't look away from the screen.

"I think you know."

"Red Hood? Something about him, it seems familiar, but I can't be sure."

"Kaldur thought it was me, because of some of his maneuvers."

"I could have told him it wasn't you just from this video. Sure he has similar acrobatic ability, but he's sloppy. He doesn't care about form, he's just reacting. He's impulsive. You never try using a technique if you aren't sure you can do it correctly; he's just improvising."

"Maybe so, but some of his moves are my techniques, Bruce. The ones that you made up and taught me, or that I came up with myself. What if he's been watching us? What if he's found the cave? He could have figured out our identities, or-"

"Dick, relax. Even if he has, he said himself he doesn't care about us. He's after something else, which makes it easier for us to catch him without him noticing. We can figure out how he knows what he knows later."

Dick sighed, nodding. "You're right."

His adoptive father turned to him. "You look exhausted. Stay here for tonight, okay? I'm sure Damian would be happy to have someone other than me and Alfred to talk to."

He smiled. "Alright." He was one of the few people that actually liked Damian, and one of even fewer who Damian, though he tried to hide it, liked in return.

It was nice to be back at the manor, even if for only a little while. Because, even after everything, it was still home.

After taking the night to recuperate, the founding members of the Team regrouped at the Watchtower.

Dick had shaved, thankfully, so he now bore less of a resemblance to the hobo who always tried to make a pass at Artemis whenever she took the Gotham subway to her apartment.

Wally too looked less scruffy, though he had refused to let her cut his hair (a battle she was determined to eventually win, if it was the last thing she ever did).

Kaldur brought up holographic screens, showing the videos they had been able to catch of Red Hood.

"Batman has confirmed that our rogue must have spent at least some time training under Ra's a'Ghul, though he has other training that we cannot yet identify, and as such we cannot hope to deduce his identity. What we can do, however, is attempt to track him." He pointed to a screen which had a map of Gotham city with a number of glowing red and blue dots. "The red dots signify drug cartels that have been crippled or annihilated completely by our rogue in the last two nights, while the blue are those that have not yet been attacked. If we can figure out which he will attack next, we can ambush him and take him down."

"Wait a second." Wally's brow was furrowed. "We're going off the assumption this is just another bad guy, right? But that's not necessarily true. From the looks of that map," he indicated the screen again.

"He's going through each part of the town only taking down certain cartels, and I think it's safe to guess there's a rhyme and reason to which ones he's picking. Maybe he's caught on to something that connects them, something bigger than just them collectively. We can't look at this like it's black and white, because he said himself, he's not looking to pick a fight with us, he's picking a fight with the really bad guys, which looks to me more like maybe he's got the same goals as us, just less honorable tactics. I think we should focus on what he's after, not him himself."

Kaldur shook his head. "I admire your desire to see the best in people, but it seems more likely to me that he is taking out the strongest of the cartels so that he can step in and control all of them."

"But he isn't!" Wally insisted. "Look." He pointed at the screen. "He's left most of Black Mask's cronies alone, and everyone knows that he's the power in Gotham."

Kaldur sighed. "I understand what you are saying, Wally, but I think it is unwise to underestimate our enemy."

"I'm just saying we should wait a little before trying to take him down. Get a little more perspective on this guy." He looked around the room searching for support, but none came.

Artemis hated to admit it, but she was with Kaldur on this one. Wally was eternally optimistic, and she loved that about him, but in her experience, a bad guy was a bad guy, no matter what good he accidentally did in the process.

He looked expectantly at her, his eyes pleading, but she looked away, and he huffed, disappointed.

Dick, however, stepped forward. "I'm with Wally on this one. There's no way he's picking his targets by accident, and he's obviously not targeting one specific group. Even if he is one of the bad guys, he's after something."

"We can't afford to just let him keep killing people." Connor stated.

"No we can't, and we won't. We are going after him as soon as we track him." Kaldur said, his tone final.

The others nodded, slowly dispersing. Connor and M'gann zeta'd back to Star City, and Dick just gave Wally a glance that said "I know you're right but they're being to bull-headed to think about it," then walked down one of the hallways.

Artemis tried to act nonchalant about the episode, addressing Wally as if nothing had happened.

"You coming babe?"

He turned to her, the look on his face confused and angry at the same time. "No I'm not coming. What the hell was that?"

"Look," She tried to keep her tone pacifying. "Yes, I agreed with Kaldur, but it's nothing personal!"

"Nothing personal." He scoffed. "Did you even listen to what I said? I mean, I would think that you of all people would understand shades of grey, and that we shouldn't just act on our first impulse. And that's coming from me, who acts on impulse basically all the time."

She raised an eyebrow. "Me of all people? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I mean. Just look at your sister! I mean, seriously, whose side is she even on?"

"Jade has nothing to do with this!" Both of their voices were steadily growing louder. "And don't try to make this about me! Because the fact of the matter is that this is that you're out of practice and you should leave the decision making to the people who have been doing this for the last three years."

"Just because I'm out of practice fighting doesn't mean I'm wrong, and every instinct in my body is telling me that this is not something we can treat like an ordinary case! Why do you insist upon being so pig-headed?"

Artemis was building up to a scathing comeback when Dick ran back into the room with Kaldur, looking panicky. He froze for a moment, looking between the two of them, standing several feet apart and both seething mad.

"Um, I don't know what's going on here, but can it wait?"

Artemis turned to him.

"What?"

"Batman just contacted me. Someone broke into the Batcave."


	9. Chapter 9

Carry on my wayward son,

There'll be peace when you are done

Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry no more.

——————————————————————————

"What the hell?" Wally sounded astonished, the argument with Artemis momentarily forgotten. "Is that even possible?"

"It shouldn't be, which is why I need you to come check it out with me ASAP, since Batman is in the middle of a fight with Killer Croc in Alaska."

They both nodded, following Dick and Kaldur into the Zeta-tube, and moments later stepping out of an old shack on an empty road, the skyline of Gotham visible in the distance.

"Why are we here instead of the cave?" asked Wally, glancing down the barren road.

"We can't just go to the cave if there's someone in there. We actually want to catch them." Dick gestured for the others to follow him into the trees to their right. "Come on, it's not far."

They walked in silence, both so as to remain unnoticed, and because neither Kaldur nor Dick wanted to touch the growing tension between Wally and Artemis with a 39 ½ foot pole.

They came upon the rocky alcove and waterfall that lead into the cave, and slipped silently into the camouflaged entrance, creeping slowly through the darkness, approaching a ledge from which they could look down at the platform where the computers were set up, their greenish holographic screens glowing eerily in the otherwise pitch darkness.

There were no signs of a break in, but Batman had specifically designed it so that he would know if anyone broke in, but they wouldn't know he knew.

As they got closer, they could make out a figure, his red helmet illuminated by the screens, standing and speaking to someone else, who was not visible.

"Just let me on the computer already!" Red Hood demanded.

The high backed black chair turned around to reveal a smaller figure, whose feet didn't even reach the floor.

"Nope." The child replied.

"Really? Come on, Damian. He'll be pissed at you for being down here no matter what. Can't you just let me get what I need and be on my merry way?"

Dick froze. He knew Damian's name. How did he know Damian's name? A million ideas popped into his head, most of which involved the Batcave, or Waynetech, or even worse, the Watchtower being hacked and personal information on the civilian identities of the League and those close to them being compromised.

This was bad.

This was really, really, really, really bad.

The four-year-old shrugged. "You're too late anyway. They're here."

Red Hood whipped around, searching the shadows for them, letting out a bark of laughter as he looked up at the ledge where they were concealed.

"Nice try, but I can see you." He tapped the mask. "Night vision."

Nightwing turned to the other three, who nodded at him. He was a little rusty, but he seriously hoped that meant "We can take him." And not "We should surrender now."

He flung himself over the ledge, landing in a crouch on the platform.

"Haven't we already been through this?" Red Hood taunted. "The only reason you caught me off guard last time was because I didn't realize you brought Speedy."

The Flash landed beside Nightwing. "Seriously? It's 'Flash'. Doesn't even have a modifier. Is that really that difficult to remember?"

Red Hood waved a hand. "Whatever."

"You know you're not going to get away with this." Nightwing growled. "Batman is going to be here soon, and as soon as he does, you're screwed."

"Not if I kick your ass, get what I need and leave before Batsy gets here."

"That is highly unlikely." Aqualad stepped out behind the other two with Tigress. "As you are once again outnumbered, yet now have nothing that we want."

Red Hood stepped back towards Damian. "I have the kid."

"No you don't." Damian replied obnoxiously. "And if you try anything I'll set my cat on you."

The white Persian he was holding hissed and spat, as if to prove his point.

Red Hood groaned. "Okay, whatever. Get lost already."

"You can't boss me around."

"Go. Away." The man's voice sounded dangerous, apparently to everyone but the four-year-old.

"Whatever. I'm bored anyway." Damian stood up and walked away, petting his rabid feline.

The others stared as his tiny figure disappeared into the darkness, then slowly Red Hood turned back to face them.

"I hate that kid."

Nightwing was frozen. Not only did Red Hood know Damian's name, he apparently actually knew him as well.

"Who the hell are you, and how do you know him?"

Red Hood laughed. "Oh you'll realize that soon enough. Now enough stalling." He pulled a knife, identical to the one Artemis had found. "Come and get me."

Nightwing pulled out his collapsible eskrimas and lunged.

The fight was rapid and difficult for the others to follow, but anyone who had ever seen Dick fight before could tell that he was more restrained than he had been when they had gone to rescue Bart and Jaime.

Dick wasn't trying to hurt or knock out his opponent anymore because he wanted answers.

Flash, Tigress, and Aqualad exchanged a glance, unsure if they should help him, or if he wanted to take the rogue by himself. After about five minutes of the fight going nowhere, however, the others poised to enter the fray, but then a dark figure dropped down beside the two.

Red Hood groaned as Batman approached him. "Crap." He dropped the knife, raising his arms. "Fine. I surrender."

Within moments Batman and Nightwing had disarmed and bound him, shoving him, none too gently, onto his knees.

"Who are you?" Demanded the Dark Knight.

Red Hood snorted with laughter, despite the circumstances. "Why don't you figure that out for yourself, Bruce?"

Batman's eyes narrowed at the use of his name, leaning forward and roughly removing the helmet from the man's head.

The scarlet metal fell to the ground to reveal the face of a younger man, his hair inky black, save for a single white streak in the front. His green eyes were covered by another domino mask, but he was still recognizable, at least to Dick, who had seen him wearing a similar mask on countless occasions.

But it couldn't be.

Dick had seen him dead, his body bleeding and broken.

And yet there he was, alive and kicking, glaring up at him.

Jason Todd smirked at his shocked expression.

"Now is this any way to greet your little brother, Grayson?"

There was a shocked silence, as even Batman was at a loss for words.

Finally Kaldur gestured to Wally and Artemis.

"I think this is a matter for Batman and Nightwing to address. We should go."

Batman nodded curtly, and the three of them left the cave via the Zeta tube.

Dick stepped toward Red Hood, pulling off his own mask.

"Jason? Is it really you?" His tone was filled with disbelief, though the harshness had gone.

"Well I'm not his evil-er twin, if that's what you mean." Jason's tone remained sarcastic. "And don't you go all mushy on me, Wonderboy."

Dick ignored him, dropping to his knees and wrapping the other man in a bone-crushing hug.

"Richard, wait. We both know this can't actually be him." Batman's eyes were narrowed and glaring at Jason.

"Why not?" Dick turned to Bruce. "You believed it when Wally came back."

"Wally wasn't dead, only sucked into an alternate dimension. He-" he pointed to Jason, "Was actually dead. We buried him, remember?"

Dick flinched. "Yes, I remember, but shouldn't we at least check?"

"Of course we'll check, but you shouldn't assume he is who he says he is."

Jason groaned. "What exactly would I have to gain here by lying?"

"Quiet." Batman's tone was final.

"He isn't lying, father." Damian reemerged from the shadows, munching on a cookie and holding his growling cat.

"Damian, you're not allowed to be down here."

The boy approached his father, looking from Bruce to Jason. "Don't you want to know what happened?"

All eyes turned to the four year old.

"H—how do you know what happened?" demanded Dick.

"He was there, when I still lived with mother. Grandfather brought him back to life using his Lazarus pit before I was born, and then he trained him, but then he ran a few months before you came for me."

Dick's eyes widened. "Why would Ra's do that?"

Damian shrugged. "How should I know?"

Bruce still looked suspicious, then turned back to Jason.

"Is this true?"

Jason shrugged. "Yep. Kid has a surprisingly good memory."

"So what now?" Dick looked from his brothers to Bruce. "What do we do with him?"

"Even if he is who he claims to be, he remains a prisoner. He's still guilty of the crimes he has committed."

Jason scoffed. "I've only taken down real criminals, Bruce. Just because I don't deal out your brand of vigilante justice doesn't mean you can go all 'holier-than-thou' on me. I've done more to clean up Gotham in the last few days than you've done in years."

"The fact that they're criminals doesn't give you the right to be judge, jury, and executioner. If you use the same tactics as them, you're no better than them."

Jason's eyes narrowed, and his resemblance to Bruce, though he was not by blood related, became striking.

"No, I'm not any better than them. I am them. Or have you forgotten where I came from, Bruce? At least I'm not trying to pretend I'm so much above them because I refuse to kill them. I'm just getting rid of the problem, which is more than you have ever done."

Batman was silent for a moment, then he spoke again, his tone slightly calmer.

"What are you doing, Jason? What are you after?"

Jason's smile was smug. "What makes you think I'm after anything?"

Bruce didn't respond.

"Fine. What makes you think I'd tell you what I'm after?"

"At this point, nothing, but perhaps after a night or two of being tied up here, you'll rethink it."

Dick spluttered. "Bruce, we can't just leave him here like he's some common criminal. It's Jason."

Bruce turned on his heel and headed towards the elevator, pulling Damian with him.

"He's acted like a common criminal, so we treat him as such."

"I resent that!" Jason yelled after him. "No common criminal could have broken into this place."

Dick sighed, turning to Jason. "I'll try to talk him down."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Don't bother. And I don't need your sympathy, Dicky-bird. Get lost."

Dick looked sadly at his brother. "What happened to you?"

"You're actually asking that?" Jason snorted. "You didn't care about me before I died, so don't pretend to now."

For a moment, Dick seemed as thought he would respond, but then just shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Jason."

Bruce stared at the camera feed from the Batcave.

Jason hadn't moved in hours, almost as if he had fallen asleep.

"Dinner is ready, master Bruce." Alfred leaned into the control room. "And Master Timothy has arrived, and he is looking for you."

Bruce nodded, sparing the feeds one last glance before standing and following Alfred out of the room.

Moments after he shut the door, however, another figure came into the view of the camera.

Jason looked up at the figure emerging from the shadows.

"It took you long enough." He glared at the man.

"What?" Arsenal shook his lanky auburn hair out of his face. "I'm right on time." He looked down at his mechanical arm, checking the time. "Well I was on time if we were still in Star City."

"Whatever. I don't even care, just untie me so we can get what we need and go."

Roy nodded, moving to cut the cables confining Jason.

"You're sure they won't know I'm here, right?"

Jason nodded. "Of course I'm sure. I disabled the alarms when I came in, but I had to trigger them first."

"You know it's actually kinda scary how well you planned this."

Jason rubbed his wrists, which were red from being tied so tightly.

"What can I say? Bruce and the League are 'honorable'" His tone was mocking. "Which really just means 'predictable'."

He sat down at the computer, searching the databases while Roy kept a lookout.

"Bingo." Jason smirked. "Leave your genius prisoner tied up right next to your computer. Smooth, Bruce." He copied the information he needed onto a flash drive, which he then handed to Roy.

"That's all I needed. Copy it onto your computer." Arsenal nodded, plugging the device into his arm.

"Got it. Ready to go, Jaybird?"

Jason turned to Roy slowly. "I will rip out your trachea if you call me that again."

Roy snickered. "No you won't."

Jason's eyes were slits. "Watch me." He bent and picked up his helmet. "Now come on. We shouldn't stick around here."


	10. Chapter 10

The tricky thing is yesterday just were children

Playing soldiers, just pretending

Dreaming dreams with happy endings

In back yards, winning battles with our wooden swords

But now we've stepped into a cruel world

Where everybody stands and keeps score

—————————————————————————

"And then he escaped when Arsenal broke into the cave. He didn't even trigger the alarms."

The table was silent after Dick explained what Damian had told them about Jason.

Barbara was staring at him, openmouthed in shock, while Wally, Artemis, and Kaldur just looked extraordinarily disconcerted.

Finally Wally cleared his throat. "Ehm. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I was totally right."

Artemis turned to him. "How do you figure? Just because we know who it is doesn't change what he did."

"Okay, now you're just being difficult." He glared at his girlfriend.

Kaldur sighed. "I'm afraid I am still in agreement with Artemis. The situation has not changed, save that it may now be easier to track him."

Dick looked at him in disbelief.

"Hasn't ch—Of course it has changed! That's my little brother, and we're not just going to 'take him out'."

"We have to, Dick. He is killing people, and we cannot condone that, no matter the familial connection."

Dick stared at him for a moment longer.

"Let me rephrase. I'm not a hero anymore. I don't work for you. And if you go after my brother, I will go after you."

Most people, Kaldur included, had never really gotten on the bad side of a Bat, and as such had never before experienced the sheer terror that came from bringing down the ire of one upon himself, but now, as Dick stared at him, his eyes colder than he had ever seen them, Kaldur finally realized why no one ever crossed them.

Dick was generally a nice guy, and his temper was not on a short fuse, but he could be downright scary when he actually got mad. It wasn't a raging fury kind of mad, it was a veiled, calculating, I-will-make-you-regret-ever-knowing-me kind of mad, and everyone else at the table could sense it.

Barbara put a hand on Dick's chest, turning his attention to her.

"Hey. Relax." She turned to Kaldur. "You cannot possibly be serious."

He glanced nervously at Artemis. "Perhaps we could wait and try to deduce his endgame before we strike, but-"

Dick sighed. "Just let me go talk to him. Okay? Maybe I can get him to tell me something, since I'm not a part of the League."

"Given our previous encounters, I am not sure that is advisable."

Dick rolled his eyes. "I can go in with you watching my back, or I can go in on my own. You pick."

Artemis leaned in. "At least let me come with you."

Dick looked like he wanted to refuse, but he was cut off as the waitress delivered their various pies.

"Ugh." He mumbled through a mouthful of peaches. "Fine. But I'm calling the shots."

After a few more bites, Dick sat up again.

"Hang on." He turned to Barbara, glaring. "Jason's alive."

She looked bewildered. "Yeah?"

"He's been alive for the last few years."

"So?"

"So those times I thought I saw him, and then you told me I was hallucinating? He was actually there!"

Barbara raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. "I suppose. But it wasn't much of a stretch to assume you were seeing things, since he was supposed to be dead, and after Wally-" She looked at the speedster, and the rest of her words caught in her throat.

Artemis cleared her throat to fill the awkward silence that followed.

"So it's decided then? We find out where Jason's going, follow him there, and then Dick and I try to get him to talk?"

Kaldur nodded. "And Connor and M'gann will be watching from the bioship, while Barbara, Wally, and I hide out on the ground within range of the telepathic link, but far enough away that Red Hood will not track us."

The others nodded.

"One last thing. Though I do trust all the other members of the Team, I think, for the time being, we ought to keep the situation on a need-to-know basis. It would require much more explanation and deliberation for them to understand, and the matter is time-sensitive."

Dick shrugged. "I'm sure Tim already knows."

"Perhaps, but he also has enough tact to keep it to himself for the moment. We can fully brief the Team later, once we have answers."

"I'll contact you once we have anything solid to go on."

"Okay, Nightwing. Tigress out." Artemis dropped her com-link and groceries onto the battered coffee table and slumped down next to Wally, who was dozing.

She sighed. "So much for a break. I think I got a grand total of a day and a half off."

Wally yawned, looking at her blearily.

"And I'm sorry for being a bitch earlier. I should have at least listened to you."

He nodded. "Yeah. You should have."

She stared at him for a moment. "And?"

"And what?"

"Don't I get an apology?"

"What did I do? I gave an opinion, everyone jumped down my throat, and I have to apologize?"

Artemis scoffed. "You lashed out at me just for disagreeing with you, and you called me a pig."

"I did not. I called you 'pigheaded', which is entirely different. And I was just expecting you of all people to give me a chance."

They were both silent for a moment.

"But I'm sorry. We were both out of line."

She sighed, then leaned over and kissed him. "Let's not fight right now, okay? We've got enough to deal with already, and I really need you watching my back."

He smiled. "I will be. Don't worry, beautiful."

"Miss Martian, Superboy. Are you in position." Aqualad crouched on the building above the rooftop where the exchange was supposed to occur.

"We are. Establishing telepathic link."

"Flash here, Megalicious." Wally laughed.

"Wally!" Artemis yelled at him.

"What can I say, beautiful? It reminds me of the good old days."

"Batgirl here." Barbara ignored the other two as she took her position atop a crane hanging over the roof.

Nightwing and Tigress lurked in the shadows as they waited for any sign of hostile movement.

After several minutes, a figure emerged and headed towards where they stood, hidden.

Nightwing stepped out to greet his brother.

"Red Hood."

"Oh dear." Jason's tone oozed sarcasm. "However did you find me?"

Dick raised his eyebrows. "You didn't clear your browsing history on the computer, which means you don't actually care that me and Batman know what you're doing."

Jason snorted. "Oh you know I can't resist an opportunity to bait the old man."

"You let me find you, which means you wanted me here."

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "I had a feeling I might need backup tonight and as I couldn't exactly ask for it, all I had to do is get you to come on your own. I assume you're not alone?"

"No, he isn't." Tigress emerged from the shadows.

"Artemis, long time no see." Jason laughed. "Though I have been meaning to ask, what's up with the new getup? I mean, not that the whole 'wild animal' thing isn't incredibly sexy or anything, but I had a thing for the green."

Artemis scowled at him.

Wally's irritated voice came over the telepathic link.

"Okay, I don't care if he's your brother, Dick, that boy is in need of a serious ass-whooping."

"That he is." Dick agreed.

"Though," Wally continued as an afterthought, "I have been meaning to ask you the same thing, babe. Though when I asked, I wouldn't have sounded like such a douche bag."

"Is this really the time?" Artemis sounded exasperated, and turned her attention back to Red Hood. "Did you honestly think we'd help you kill people? We don't do that, remember?"

"Oh don't worry, sweetheart, me and-" He laughed as another person jumped down from an adjacent building and landed beside him. "—Arsenal do the killing." He clapped Roy's shoulder, who scowled at him. "And I do actually think you'll help me since you know who I'm after, won't you Birdboy?"

Dick was silent for a moment, then nodded grudgingly. Artemis looked to him questioningly.

"I think you should explain." Kaldur stated firmly.

Dick turned to Red Hood and Arsenal. "Give me a minute."

"Sure, sure." Jason waved a hand. "Not like we're on a tight schedule or anything."

Dick ignored him, pulling Artemis away from the other two, and speaking through the telepathic link.

"You know how I found Jason because he left what he had searched for in the computer's history? Well he was searching for deals made by a subset of Lexcorp, made under another name, and there are no traceable ties to the public side of Luthor's company. I don't know how Jason found it, but he tracked down drug cartels that had been buying from that subset, and those are the ones he's been taking out."

"Why?" Kaldur sounded puzzled. "What vendetta does he harbor against Luthor? And what is so special about the product that he is selling?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Then continue, but avoid any unnecessary risks, Nightwing. You have no obligation to help him."

"Fine." Dick walked back to where Jason and Roy were muttering in hushed voices to each other.

"I'll help you." Dick stated, while the others telepathically protested. "If you tell me why you're after Luthor."

Jason looked to Roy, then shrugged. "No. But I'll tell you why you're after Luthor. Turns out he stashed a bunch of the Reach's mind control chemical crap, and he's been spiking the drugs that he's been selling. The cartels are buying because he selling them dirt cheap." He chuckled darkly. "And you know what that means? He's trying to take over the world. Again. Whoop-de-freaking-do."

Dick's eyes widened, and Jason laughed again. "And now you have to help me. Though we'll all be dead if we stay in the open. They'll be here in minutes."

Dick looked to Artemis, who nodded grudgingly. "We can't let Luthor get away with this."

They moved back to their hiding place in the shadow of a ventilation shaft, while Red Hood and Arsenal disappeared.

Silence.

Then a door at opposite side of the rooftop opened, and several dark figures emerged.

There were eight men in dark suits with sunglasses (at night? Jackasses) surrounding a ninth man holding a metal briefcase.

"Vere are they?" one of the men asked in a thick Russian accent. "The scum dare to be late?"

"Patience, Ivan." The man in the center replied. "I am sure they will be here momentarily."

Sure enough, after a few moments, four figures climbed over the edge of the building, apparently having used the fire escape.

The men congregated in the middle of the roof, the only area that was lit by ancient looking lamps, held on to their posts by wire and duct tape.

"You got our product?" A short man with a strong New Jersey accent approached the man holding the briefcase.

"Indeed, but as per usual, we require your payment first."

"Why do we gotta pay first? Huh?" he nodded to his men. "My boys and I, we don't like bein' treated like we ain't trustworthy, and you know, we got no reason to trust you's either."

The taller man inclined his head. "Mr. O'Brian, it is not a matter of trust or lack thereof. It is simply customary in transactions for the party receiving a product or service to pay before either is received. It's just business."

O'Brian glared at the man, sizing him up, but then apparently decided it was a loosing battle.

"I still don't like it, but I ain't got time to argue bout it right now." He gestured to one of his men, who came forward holding a rucksack.

"Twenty grand cash. Just likes we agreed."

The man walked over to the other group, handing them the bag.

Dick looked up at Jason, who was perched atop the shed on the other side of the roof, obscured by the shadows. He shook his head slightly.

What was he waiting for?

O'Brian's man returned to his side, and the man holding the briefcase approached them.

"20 pounds, as we agreed." He held out the case, but just as O'Brian was about to take it from him, it suddenly disappeared.

The men jumped, looking up to see the case suspended by a cable, several feet above all of their heads.

"What the hell is this!" Demanded O'Brian, "Did you set this up? Huh? Did you think that you could just go back on our deal? I knew I shouldn'ta paid you white collars first!"

"We have nothing to do with this, I assure you." The taller man spun around, searching for the source of the line just as Arsenal leapt down from the balcony of the opposite building, and Red Hood landed behind the men in suits.

Nightwing and Tigress exchanged a glance, then emerged as well, weapons poised, and moved so that they stood on each side of the group.

"Sorry boys." Jason's laugh sounded eerie and metallic as it echoed across the now silent rooftop. "I'm afraid the deal's off."

Everyone was motionless for a moment longer, then O'Brian wrenched a gun out of one of his lieutenant's hands, and aimed at Red Hood. "Like hell it is!" He fired several rounds at him, but Jason dodged them effortlessly.

He clicked his tongue. "Now is that really the best you can do?"

The leader of the suits stepped forward. "The best he can do perhaps, but hardly the best I can do."

He put a hand to the nearly invisible device in his ear. "Code Blue."

Within moments, twenty or so masked men emerged, some on adjacent rooftops with rifles, but most climbed over the sides of the building armed with lethal looking knives and shock batons, surrounding them all.

"Uh, guys?" Dick asked telepathically, "We could use some backup. Like, right now."

An instant later, the scene became an all-out brawl.

They did remarkably well at first, considering they were outnumbered by about 10 to 1 and had to dodge gunfire as well as short ranged attacks.

Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Batgirl appeared less than a minute later, managing to force their way into the crowd to assist their comrades and not-really-but-kind-of-at-the-moment allies.

It was obvious that Jason was trying his best to get to the man who had been carrying the briefcase, the one person most likely to be in close contact with Lex Luthor.

The man, however, kept pushing his men in front of him, trying to make his way back to the door into the building.

Deciding that his present tactic was ineffective, Jason turned to the other goons and began taking them down one by one.

But for however many they took down, it seemed that an equal number appeared.

Dick was out of practice, both of his own training, and of following his teammates, but he could tell something had changed about Jason's movements.

They were no longer quick and lethal as they had been in the past, but slow and almost staged, as if he were simply stalling. More than that, he seemed to be purposely edging away from Arsenal, leaving his friend surrounded and at a distance from all the others.

He looked around at his friends. Connor and Kaldur were side-by-side, punching and whacking and throwing anyone that came close to them, while M'gann floated above, trying to telepathically incapacitate the men, while Wally tried his hardest to make his way over to Artemis, but he was having a tough time getting past a massive man who had just pushed himself over the ledge, eight feet tall with biceps wider around than most people's waist.

It shouldn't be this hard, he thought. There's just so many of them. It's like they knew we were coming!

It was a complete stalemate, but then suddenly, one of the masked men caught Arsenal in the neck with a shock baton, and the redhead crumpled.

Dick tried to force his way over to him, but even as he moved, Roy was lifted by some of the other men and dragged down the stairwell.

At that moment, the tides seemed to turn against them. The thugs seemed to gain courage and motivation from their capture, and the pushed the team back farther, except for Artemis, who was still surrounded.

Wally was franticly trying to push through to her, but even the fastest man alive couldn't force his molecules to phase through a wall of people.

"Fall back!" Kaldur called. "Everyone fall back"

Tigress expression was wary, glancing from the men around her, over to Flash, and then to Dick. She sighed and shook her head at him, not looking scared but rather resigned.

Because she knew they couldn't get to her without backup.

They were outnumbered and overwhelmed.

The giant approached her, and the look on her face clearly said "you have got to be kidding me."

The man backhanded her, and she was thrown back into a concrete wall, then crumpled to the ground.

Wally cried out to her, but he couldn't get through.

The leader of Luthor's men stepped forward smirking. "I think we are done here."

He dropped a pellet, and the rooftop was instantly covered in smoke.

When it cleared, he and all his men and all O'Brian's men were gone.

And so was Artemis.


	11. Chapter 11

Well baby, I've been here before

I've seen this room, I've walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew you

And I saw your flag from the marble arch

And love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken halellujiah

————————————————————————

The team congregated around the kitchen table in Dick's apartment.

The silence was painful.

Dick finally cleared his throat. "So what exactly did you hope to gain from that fiasco, Jason?"

Jason shrugged, removing his helmet and setting it beside him on the table. "I got what I needed."

Wally leaned forward, his eyes bloodshot and angry. "Which was what? And how was it worth letting Artemis and Roy get captured?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "This is why I hate working with you people. It's so insulting to have to explain myself all the time."

The others were silent staring at him. "Ugh." He sighed, "Fine. When I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get at Fenti directly," The other looked at him blankly. "Abram Fenti, the second in command of Luthor's less public businesses? Honestly aren't you supposed to be keeping tabs on these people? Whatever. When I realized I couldn't get at him, I went to my plan B—to let Roy get caught, and then track him via the chip I planted in his arm."

Wally's lip curled. "I am so tired of you goddamn Bats and your goddamn bait!" Dick flinched but he ignored him, his tone biting. "Artemis is not bait. And I hardly think your little boyfriend appreciates it either."

"What can I say?" the sarcasm had returned to Jason's voice. "It spices up the relationship."

Dick slammed his fist on the table, causing M'Gann to jump. "This is serious, Jason!"

Jason turned to his brother. "Roy knows the risks of running with me, but he also knows that I'm the best chance he has at getting what he wants."

"Which is?" Connor spat. "I hardly think he wanted to get fed to the sharks."

Jason was unfazed. "What he wants is his business, not mine. And honestly, I'm willing to use whatever and whoever to get what I want."

Silence again. Then in a blur of red, Wally yanked Jason from his chair and shoved his back up against the wall, his forearm pinning his neck.

"Let me make one thing very clear to you, Todd. If they hurt her, if they touch one hair on her head, I will hold you personally responsible, and I will make you wish you were never born."

"Re-born, actually." Jason chuckled weakly because, Dick realized with a start, he actually was nervous. He couldn't blame him. Speedsters could be as terrifying, if not more so than the Bats when they got angry, mainly because they were so pleasant most of the time, and only a handful of people in the world ever had or ever would see them angry.

"And believe me, I wish I hadn't been. Extremely unpleasant, getting your soul forcibly shoved back into your mangled and beaten and thoroughly dead body."

Wally pushed harder against Jason's windpipe. "I am not joking."

"Enough, Wally." Kaldur stood. "Arguments and threats amongst ourselves will not help Artemis and Roy."

Wally sighed. "Fine." He returned to his seat, still looking thoroughly miserable.

Dick held his head. "What are you after, Jason? I think you owe us that much."

Jason slumped back down, massaging his neck. "Fine, but Bats doesn't hear about this, capiche?"

Kaldur nodded. "For the time being, at least."

"I'm sure you've noticed the spike in crime by all your petty criminals, Ivy, Riddler, the Central City Rogues, but have you noticed someone missing? A certain green-haired, psychotic clown with a crow bar?"

Dick's eyes widened in shock.

"Apparently Lex thought he was too much of a loose cannon and decided to keep him nice and cozy in prison until he needed to rile up some chaos. Let's just say I'm dying for a little reunion, so I've been trying to find where he's keeping him for the last year, and I'm about eighty percent sure that he's keeping him at a secret facility somewhere under Gotham, and with any luck, that's where he'll take Roy and Artemis."

Wally raised an eyebrow, his jaw set. "So you're basing the entire plan on something that really comes down to luck? In what universe do you not expect that to come bite us in the ass?"

Jason snorted. "Luck's been kind to me so far, you know, except for the whole getting beaten to death then forcibly and painfully brought back to life thing. I think I'll take my chances."

Wally stood up again, seething. "This isn't just about you! You don't get to put innocent lives at stake to make yourself feel better!"

"I'll do whatever I damn well-"

A knock at the door silenced him. The others exchanged a nervous glance. There wasn't really anyone to whom this situation would be easy to explain.

Dick stood up slowly and approached the door, opening it a fraction of an inch to see who was there.

"Tim? What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, and no one was answering their com-links. I thought maybe-" He trailed off has his glanced around the room, his eyes coming to rest on Jason, who suddenly looked remarkably sheepish.

"Jason?"

"Drake."

Tim approached him, staring with his mouth agape.

"Bruce told me, but," He shook his head, "Where have you been?"

Jason shrugged noncommittally. "Places."

After staring at him a moment longer, Tim suddenly swung his fist at his brother's face, and for some reason, Jason took the punch without resistance. Tim stepped back, glaring, but then grabbed Jason into a tight embrace.

An embrace which, after a moment, Jason grudgingly returned.

Dick's eyes widened as he watched his brothers. Jason had not reacted this way to anyone, yet, he supposed, the two of them had grown up together for a few years, and they had been closer to each other than Dick had been to either of them before Jason died.

The guilt surged in his chest again. He hadn't been there for either of them. And then he had promised to be better for Tim, but then he fell off the face of the planet after Wally died.

The hug didn't last very long, and Tim stepped away after a few moments, taking in the scene around him.

"What's going on?" His eyes fell on Wally. "Where's Artemis?"

Wally raised his eyebrows and scoffed. "Yes, Jason. Explain to your dear brother where she is, thanks to you."

Jason held his face in his hands. "I hate my life."

Artemis was completely disoriented when she came to.

She was cold, and her body ached like she had face planted on concrete.

Oh wait. That's exactly what happened.

She groaned as the memory of the fight came back to her, and she comprehended her surroundings.

The cell beside hers was occupied by Arsenal, who was still unconscious, his mechanical arm missing.

Her own mask had been removed, along with everything remotely weapon-ish in her possession.

There was another figure several cells away, but whoever it was slept so soundly that she suspected they had been sedated.

"Roy." She whispered through the bars. "Psst. Roy!"

The redhead groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Aw man!" He glared down at the stump of his right arm. "I feel naked."

Artemis laughed a little. "And not in the fun way."

He glanced around the cell block, a long windowless room, lit only by flickering industrial strip lights, with a row of cells along each wall and a hallway running between them.

"Where are we?"

"No idea. One of Luthor's hidey holes, I assume."

"Dammit." He groaned. "J-Red Hood did this."

"How do you figure?"

"He's been trying to get at Luthor's secret facilities for the last year or so. He's used us as bait."

Her eyes widened. "What? Why would he do that? Aren't you his partner?"

Roy laughed humorlessly. "I think so, but after everything, he's still in it for himself."

"Why do you stay with him?"

Roy shrugged. "I want revenge, and not to get put back on ice, and he's my best chance of getting both."

She raised her eyebrows. "Really? Look where he's gotten you."

"He'll come. He'll be tracking us."

Artemis slumped back onto her metal cot.

"So we have to completely rely on the whims of someone who cares only for his own agenda. No problem with that."

"Don't get me wrong. He is my…friend." He faltered on the word. "Whether he'll admit it or not. He's not actually as much of a heartless ass as he wants you to think. He's just real—focused. I like that about him. He always gets what he wants. And he'll come. I know he will."

She was not convinced, but the conviction in Arsenal's tone was hard to mistrust. After all, this Roy didn't trust anyone, but something about Jason had gotten through to him. Besides, if Jason did know where they were, then Wally could find her. And for all the doubts and trepidation she had for the man she loved, but who had left her alone for years, she knew that he would go to Hell and back to save her.

And even in this shitty situation she loved knowing that.

"So now what?" She tapped the bars. "We just sit here and twiddle our thumbs until he comes?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

She sighed, deflated. "Not at the moment."

"Well at least it's quiet. It could be worse you know."

Suddenly, a terrifying, shrieking laughter filled the prison as the figure she had noticed a few cells away sat up, his green hair pointed in all directions.

"Ooh, kiddies! It's been so quiet down here, but now Lexipoo decided to give me people to talk to! What fun this will be!" The Joker cackled.

Artemis stared, then turned to Roy glaring. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"

Roy groaned and rammed his head against the concrete wall.

"Fuck."

"You're such a dick!" Tim glared at Jason. "No offense, Dick."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Yes, that does seem to be the general consensus, though everyone seems to be missing the genius of my plan. If I'm working with you, then Luthor expects me to use 'honorable' tactics, so it would never occur to him that I'd use my partner as bait."

"And that makes it okay?" Tim demanded.

Jason shrugged. "I've said before, and I'll say it again. I'm in it for me. End of story. Anyway, why are we spending so much energy pointing fingers while our friends are in trouble?"

Wally nodded. "I agree. How are we getting them back?"

"I believe we should-" Kaldur began, but Jason cut him off.

"Go in guns blazing as soon as we pinpoint their location? Excellent. Exactly what I was going to say."

"That's the dumbest plan I've ever heard." Snorted Connor, "In fact, it's not a plan, it's a death wish."

"No it's not." Jason said calmly, in a tone that was reminiscent of speaking to a two-year-old. "The bad guys expect us to have a thought through, practiced battle plan. If we go in with no plan at all, they'll have no idea what to do with themselves. It's foolproof. Also." He turned back to the others. "There's no way I'm letting all of you come. It will be just Dick, Barbara, and, I assume, Wally."

Wally nodded curtly. "Like you could stop me."

Tim started forward. "You're not leaving me behind! I'm coming."

"Ugh, fine, whatever. But that's it. No one else."

"Who put you in charge?" Growled Connor.

"Indeed. As leader of this team I cannot permit-" Kaldur insisted, but Jason cut through again.

"Don't mistake me here. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you." His tone was cold and final.

The room fell silent again. Whether they liked it or not, Jason did command certain poise which implied someone who was not to be questioned, a skill he had undoubtedly picked up from Batman.

Finally, Tim cleared his throat. "So when are we going? Surely we should wait until tomorrow, cause you all look like you could use some sleep."

"Fine." Jason stood up abruptly. "I'll be back in the morning."

After another silent moment, Kaldur, Wally, Connor, and M'gann also stood, mumbled goodbyes, and walked out of the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the comments I got when I originally posted this on ff.net was that there was a “lack of homoerotic undertones” with Jason and Roy and honestly??? That was my bad I guess. Totally intended to write them as in a relationship (there was only one cot at the beginning guys???) but alas 18 year old inexperienced me didn’t know how to write a relationship


	12. Chapter 12

If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down in a bed of roses

Sink me in the river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song

—————————————————————————

Dick stared at his ceiling, with its peeling wallpaper that revealed the crumbling drywall above.

The city lights, a mile or two in the distance, cast bluish patterns across the walls, refracted through the cracked windowpane.

It was quiet, disturbed only by the distant rumble of traffic, and the trickle of his pathetic shower.

The shower shut off, and Barbara stepped into the bed room, wearing one of his old t-shirts and ringing out her hair.

"Well this day went to hell fast." She grumbled as she slumped down on the bed beside him. "In fact there's not many ways it could have gone worse."

"Believe me, I know." He sighed, moving his arm to cover his eyes. "Add this to this list of things I've fucked up. I shouldn't have trusted Jason."

Barbara pulled his arm away, glaring at him. "Stop blaming yourself for everything. It was better to give him a chance than to just take him out, okay? There's no way you could have foreseen what happened."

"That's the problem, Barbara! I went in blindly, and I didn't even think how bad it could end up." He sniffed, glaring at his pillow. "Bruce warned me. He would have seen it coming."

"Hey." She cradled his face. "You're not Bruce, and I don't want you to be. In some ways, you're so much like him, but in the ways that matter, you are you. Yes you can be an idiot at times, but you're strong, and brave, and even if you don't show it, you want to believe the best of people. And that's not something to try and change."

He finally looked at her, smiling weakly. "Thank you. But that doesn't change the fact that this is about the fifth time I've let something like this happen. And every time I do, someone gets hurt." He shook his head. "Kaldur, Artemis, Wally, Tula, Artemis again. All my fault."

"They knew the risks, and your plans all worked in the end. If this doesn't work, it's on Jason's head, not yours."

"Yeah but I made everyone go along with it! If this doesn't work-" He choked. "It has to work."

Barbara looked at him sadly, then leaned in and kissed him gently. "Then it will. But there's no point in worrying about it right now. You need sleep just like the rest of us."

Dick chewed his lip, unsatisfied, but nodded, sliding his hand under her waist and pulling her into his arms.

"I love you."

She laughed quietly. "You'd better."

"Yeah, we're dead." Wally grumbled as he crouched beside Tim on the support beam of the bridge connecting Gotham and Blüdhaven, overlooking the abandoned ferry port which housed what they hoped was the entrance to Luthor's secret facilities.

"Ye of little faith." Scoffed Jason over the com-link from an alcove on the opposite building.

"Remind me again, what are we waiting for?" Asked Barbara. "We've been sitting here for twenty minutes."

"I'm hacking every camera feed within four hundred feet of the entrance so that we'll have at least some element of surprise." Dick answered. "Unless we trigger some alarm that I haven't been able to detect yet."

"And that's taken you this long?" Barbara turned to him. "I think you may be losing your touch."

"That's not all I was doing." He grumbled. "I was also disconnecting the motion sensors down below and patching them into my computer instead so we'll know if anyone is coming in after us."

"Fine, fine, but are you done yet?" Jason complained. "I don't do patience."

Dick muttered something about what Jason could do instead, but the nodded. "It's done."

"Then here goes nothing." Jason dropped from the alcove, checked once more for any guards, then darted towards the door.

After fiddling with the keypad which slid out from a concealed flap in the wall, the door opened and Jason gestured for the others to follow him.

The door led directly onto a flight of stair which led down into the darkness, lit only by a flickering sconce about twenty feet down.

The moved with a silence possible only because either they had been trained by a Bat, or in Wally's case, could move at a speed which didn't really require touching the ground.

About three floors down, they arrived on a landing, lined by doors on either side.

The first door was a guard post, manned by three men who were currently sleeping, eating, and half-heartedly staring at the monitors, not even flinching as the five slipped past.

The next room looked like some sort of laboratory, but was empty, lit by a fluorescent liquid bubbling in a beaker on the far side of the room.

"We're close." Jason whispered, indicating the flashing gps in his hand.

They rounded the corner to find themselves in a weapons cache, which was also deserted.

"The hell, Jason?" Dick whispered. "What's this supposed to be?"

Jason didn't answer, moving to a table on the far side of the room, and picked up the lone object sitting on it.

"Of course." He sighed. "I should have realized Luthor would do that." He raised Roy's mechanical arm. "But there's still a good chance they're here."

Wally's jaw was set. "You better hope they are." He growled, lifting Artemis' bow, quiver, and knife pouch from a haphazard pile of firearms.

Dick tapped a button on his wrist, activating the computer.

"Looks like there's another eight floors below us. Plenty of room for a prison, I think?"

Jason nodded. "Right. So we keep looking."

They filed out of the room once more, Jason still gripping the mechanical arm.

"We should spread out. We need to search the building as quickly as possible."

Artemis' ears were still ringing. It had taken the guards nearly half an hour to come and sedate the Joker again, and even though he couldn't get at her, it was terrifying to be around him, his horrible, cackling laughter echoing through the metal chamber.

Roy sat on the floor, his back pressed into the corner and his knees pulled up to his chest, trying to get some sleep, his breath raspy.

She couldn't tell if they had been sitting here for minutes or hours or days, but in the dead silence, all she could do was silently repeat to herself that Wally would come. He would. He would.

A muffled thud against the metal door to the chamber startled her from her ruminations.

Another bang.

A grunt.

Then silence again, before the door opened with a crash, and two figures rushed into the room.

Wally rushed to the bars of the door, while Tim typed rapidly on a keypad beside the door. A bell rang, and all the cell doors unlocked, and Artemis fell into Wally's arms.

"Areyouokaydidtheyhurtyouareyouhungrywhathappenedd oyouwantmetocarryyouiloveyouimsorry—" He ran his hands over her arms and torso, checking her for injuries.

Apart from a few bruises and cuts, she was fine, though a little sore, but Wally still looked frantic.

"I'm fine. Babe! I'm fine. Really." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You came for me. I'm completely fine."

"You thought I wouldn't?" He sounded hurt.

"No." She laughed weakly. "God, no. I knew you would. I was more scared of who and what you would break in the process."

He chuckled, and opened his mouth to speak but Tim cut him off as he helped a limping Roy out of his cell.

"Is this the time?"

Artemis blushed, but Wally did not look even remotely abashed.

"I guess not." He replied, shrugging Artemis' weapons off his back and handing them to her.

The four of them rushed out of the room, into the hall.

Tim glanced down at his computer.

"Okay, good news, we found the chemical compound Luthor's been spiking the drugs with, and have enough proof to prosecute him. Bad news, we set off silent alarms by disarming these guards," Tim gestured to the unconscious figures on the ground. "And more bad news, this place is going to blow in about three and a half minutes."

The others gaped at him.

"This place is rigged with an automatic self-destruct function if it gets infiltrated."

They were silent, then Roy groaned. "So, basically—run?"

They ran into the others on the fourth level, along with a fully armed platoon of security thugs. They spared little time trying to engage them, however, painfully aware of the countdown.

Wally zipped between them, wrenching their firearms away from them, then the others incapacitated just enough of them to clear a path.

Three floors. Two minutes.

Two floors. A minute and twenty two seconds.

One floor. Forty nine seconds.

They rushed to the final flight of stairs, up and out the door, running away from the building.

They came to a stop in the middle of an empty street, several hundred feet away.

A boom echoed from deep under the ground, shaking the foundations of the abandoned structures around them.

Another one.

Three more.

The pavement cracked, spreading out from the epicenter, which began to collapse downwards into the burning basements.

Flames were visible down inside the explosion, and a cloud of smoke and ash billowed up into the sky.

After a moment, Wally sighed. "Well I suppose that could have gone worse?"

Artemis laughed, hugging him again.

Barbara and Dick sighed in relief, but Jason and Tim both stood rigid, still supporting the half-conscious Roy.

"Wait." Tim's tone was sharp. "It's not over. The last explosive hasn't detonated yet. Brace yourselves."

A moment passed, then Jason whipped around to look at Tim. "Wait, did you find the—"

A cackling laughter filled the air once more, and the group whipped around to see the figure in the middle of the street.

"Ooh, kiddies! How kind of you to leave the door open for me!" the Joker screamed with laughter again. "And look at the toys Lexi left behind for me!" He raised an automatic rifle and pointed it at them. "Who wants to play?"

Jason snarled, reaching for his own gun, but before he could draw it, the ground shook the final explosion, sending cracks splintering out from the epicenter as the ground began to cave in behind them. He was thrown forward onto the pavement, his helmet cracking and flying away from him as he face planted.

Dick ran forward to help him up, and Tim and Babs darted forward to catch Roy, who still looked rather dazed.

Just as Dick was pulling Jason back to his feet, however, the sound of a gunshot echoed through the street, and the two of them whipped around just in time to see the Joker running away, laughing manically, while from behind them came the thump of someone collapsing on the pavement.

Jason screamed in frustration, trying to pull himself away from Dick to run after the clown, wrenching his gun from its holster.

Dick didn't resist. In fact he let him go, stumbling back over to the others, and falling to his knees, choking out a hoarse "No!"

In front of him, unconscious in a pool of her own blood, lay Barbara


	13. Chapter 13

When all you've got to keep is strong,

Move along, move along like I know you do.

And even when your hope is gone,

Move along, move along just to make it through

——————————————————————————

Beep

Beep

Beep

The rhythm of the heart monitor had put Dick into a kind of daze. Not surprising, considering he hadn't moved in about six hours and then only to blow his nose.

He didn't know what he was waiting for, exactly. The doctor had told him Barbara wouldn't wake up for another day, at least. He almost hoped that, for her sake, it would be longer than that. Better to sleep and dream than to wake and have to face a horrible truth.

A part of him had hoped that after everything, he had finally caught a break. In the space of two days, he had gotten Wally and Jason back. The seemingly endless string of past mistakes had begun to erase itself.

But it hadn't. Because now Jason had disappeared again.

After failing to catch the Joker, Jason had cast one glance back towards the others, a look laced with an indescribable emotion that was not quite anger, not quite sadness, and not quite relief.

And then he ran.

Roy, in his pain-induced stupor, had been unable to follow at the time. As soon as the doctors had patched up his ribs and leg, however, he had disappeared too.

A rather remarkable feat, Wally had noted, for someone who was on crutches.

But Dick was sure that Jason had come to get him.

There was something about Jason that Dick couldn't understand. He'd risked the wrath of Ra's A Ghul by breaking an oath of service to seek out revenge, yet when he was given the chance, he couldn't follow through on killing the man who had killed him.

And at the same time, he was willing to use anyone he liked to get what he wanted.

He had an agenda, that much was obvious, but it couldn't just be revenge.

There was something else. Something bigger, something less blatantly selfish.

At least Dick hoped so.

He hoped with every fiber of his being that Jason had some reason for letting this happen to Barbara.

He couldn't believe that he'd just let her, let family, take the fall for him. Not after everything.

Babs groaned softly in her sleep, turning her head towards Dick, though her eyes remained closed.

Dick stifled a sob. How could he face her now? She had been unswervingly faithful, and he had let her down.

This wasn't about Jason. Or Wally. Or Bruce. Or anyone else.

This was Barbara.

This was him.

And he failed.

Again.

The living room was dead silent. Wally was slumped on the couch, eyes downcast, with Artemis beside him, trying to hide the tears silently dripping down her cheeks.

Kaldur had been unable to sit still, alternating between pacing, rapping his fingers impatiently against the counter, and darting out of the room to interrogate the doctors for the hundredth time.

They still didn't know anything, except that the Joker's bullet had severed a portion of Barbara's spine. She would live, they said, but there was little to no possibility that she would ever walk again.

Dick hadn't left her side, nor had he spoken to anyone, save to ashen-faced explain what had happened to Bruce.

Bruce had accepted his story in silence, deciding, apparently, that Dick was suffering enough already without any discipline from him.

The quiet was finally broken as Dick staggered into the room.

"She—" His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "She's awake. If you want to see her."

Artemis jumped to her feet, followed closely by Wally, but he paused at the door.

"Dick, why aren't you with her?"

His breath hitched. "I—I can't. I don't deserve to be with her."

They began to protest again, but he shook his head. "Just go. I'll be fine." Dick slumped away again.

Wally reached out to his friend, but Artemis held him back, shaking her head slightly. "Not now. He needs time. Nothing you say is going to help."

Dick paid no attention to where his feet carried him, simply following the zeta tube to the coordinates the last person to use it had taken.

He ended up in Gotham again, and he approached the nearest building and climbed it on instinct. Higher ground always made it easier for him to thing.

After slowly trudging across miles of rooftops, his came to rest atop the slanted façade of an old church.

He collapsed onto the ledge, staring out into the restless city.

Despite the constant noise and flashing of multi-colored lights, however, he felt more at peace than he had in days.

Of course, he reminded himself, that was only because he was no longer staring at the source of his guilt.

He stared down at his hands. Though it had been three days since everything had happened, he still had blood caked under his fingernails. Her blood.

He involuntarily flashed back to the horrible, horrible moment when her eyes had unfocused, her breathing hitched, and she collapsed where she stood.

God. How could he have let this happen? Why on earth had he put such blind faith in someone who had done nothing to earn it? Jason had done the opposite in fact.

Dick twitched. Someone was coming.

Indeed, moments later another figure came to rest beside him.

Dick set his jaw.

"Why are you here, Jason?"

"I was in the neighborhood."

Dick remained silent, waiting for the truth.

"Okay, fine. I wanted to talk to you, and you're pretty easy to find. Well, that is it was easy to hack the Batcave and track your com-link."

"Get to the point."

Jason opened his mouth, then shut it again. For the first time since Dick could remember, he seemed at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry."

Dick flinched, then without warning he caught Jason in the face with his fist, pinning his back on the roof.

"Go ahead." Jason choked against Dick's forearm, which was pressed hard against his throat. "I deserve it."

But Dick exhaled and released him. "No, you don't. Well, you do, but not as much as I do."

"How do you figure? This whole fiasco was my fault. You know that as well as I do."

"Yeah, but you were just doing what you've always done. No amount of training ever changed the fact that when you want something, you have tunnel vision. Nothing else even registers to you, least of all the idea that your plan won't work. And I knew that. And I could have stopped you, if I had really wanted to. But I didn't. And at least this is the first time you've majorly fucked up. I've already gotten several people killed, and several more were near misses. This is on me."

"Dick, I would have done what I did, whether you had helped me or not. And I would probably have ended up taking hundreds of people down with me. You can't blame yourself when you were choosing the lesser of two evils, both of which would be my fault. I didn't think it through. I spent all my effort in finding the Joker, so much that I didn't pause to consider what I'd do when I actually found him. And for everything I've done, when it came down to it, I couldn't kill him. No matter how much I wanted to."

"Why?"

Jason shrugged. "Dunno. I killed those assassins without a second thought, but with him, I just—froze. I guess if he dies, then I'll have nothing to do anymore. Nothing to strive towards. Without him I have nothing."

"That's not true, you know."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Now don't you go all mushy feeling-y on me Grayson. So help me if you say I have 'family' I will punch your stupid face."

"I think you already went there on your own. And anyway, what I was going to say it that whether you meant to or not, you've done some good in your vendetta. You've taken out some of the most ruthless cartels in Gotham. If I didn't know better, I'd say you could make a pretty good hero."

"I'm not a hero."

Dick cracked a smile for the first time in days as he clapped his brother on the shoulder.

"Actions speak louder than words, little bro."

Jason snorted, shrugging Dick's hand off.

"Why are you here talking to me, anyway. Shouldn't you be with Barbara?"

Dick expression fell. "I don't what to say to her. 'I'm sorry doesn't really cover it."

"No, but I don't really think that's what she wants to her anyway. This is Babs. She tough. And the last think she needs right now is for you to act like a scared little girl."

For knowing what she did now, Barbara was in remarkably good spirits. She didn't scream or even cry when the doctors told her the news.

She had just sighed glumly. "Well that puts a damper on things, doesn't it?"

Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Tim, M'Gann, Connor, and all of the others had filed through her room, happy that she was at least in part recovering, though they all seemed to be treading on eggshells when the topic of her paralysis arose.

It was to be expected, she supposed.

The one person she really wanted to see, however, was nowhere to be found. When she asked, Wally had told her that Dick had gone home to rest. A transparent lie, she knew for sure. Dick would never just leave to take a nap when she was in this state. Especially when she had just woken up. He was hiding. Bloody coward.

He probably blamed himself, she mused. As if there was any way he could have A. stopped Jason. B. done anything other than help him, or C. foreseen anything the Joker would do. He had made the best of a shitty situation, and all things considered, at least she was still alive.

Not that she wasn't upset. She was. She couldn't even begin to think about what her life would be like now.

She couldn't be Batgirl anymore. Hell, she wouldn't be able to do much for herself anymore.

It was painful to think about, and whenever her mind began to wander in that direction, she tried to think of something else. Something totally unrelated. It didn't really work.

After several hours, however, Dick staggered back into her room and fell into the chair beside her bed, unable to meet her eye.

"Nice of you to drop in." She said, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice.

Dick flinched, then mumbled "I'm sorry." Under his breath.

"What was that? Couldn't quite hear you."

"I'm sorry." He said a little louder, yet still into his lap.

She scoffed. "I'm sorry? You think I want you to apologize?"

Dick looked up at her warily, searching for any sign of emotion in her expression.

"What do you want me to say then?"

"Oh, my God. You are such an idiot, you know that right?"

Dick paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, yeah I do, actually."

"Good" She huffed crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"I love you." He blurted out.

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You'd better. Cause this is totally your fault."

He flinched away again, looking down.

"I'm kidding stupid. It's nobody's fault, okay? Well, except the Joker, but he's not likely to apologize."

Despite himself, Dick laughed, shaking his head.

"What would I do without you?"

She pondered for a moment. "Starve, burn down your apartment, loose every possession you have, forget Bruce's birthday, which is as good as a death wish—oh and never be able to get a job because you don't know your own social security number."

"Dear God, I'm helpless aren't I?"

"Yes, yes you are." She reached out and took his hand in hers. "But I'm still here, so you'll be fine."

He chuckled, then abruptly stopped and groaned.

"What?" She inquired.

"We're gonna have to find a new apartment."

She shrugged. "I guess so. Those stairs won't be much fun now."

"No," He shook his head. "That means I'm gonna have to clean out the old one."

She burst out laughing again. "Well good luck. See you in ten years after you're done wading through all your crap."

Dick growled. "There's no need to rub it in."

"Oh, I think there is."

After a few more moments of her uncontrollable hysterics at the look on his face, she leaned over and tugged him towards her, so that he climbed onto the bed beside her, and she tucked her face into his shoulder.

"You know we're gonna be okay, right?" She said softly as he rubbed circles on her back.

"Yeah." He kissed the top of her head. "I know."


	14. Epilogue

I know my mother, she always told me the road would get cold,

But I never listened, always forgetting the way back home…

——————————————————————————

One year, five months, six days later…

"That's all of them." Arsenal announced as he shoved the last of the Penguin's unconscious goons into the storage locker.

Red Hood clapped the dust off his hands, stowing the tiny vial of a sickly green substance into his pocket. "Not sure why Penguin was so determined to keep this hidden, but I'll analyze it when we get back."

Roy nodded, though he raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"You gonna tell me what's been up with you?"

Jason shot him a dirty look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Roy was unfazed. "You've been off your A-game for months. You keep picking fights that don't gain us anything. You barely help in fights, and then you won't kill anyone. If I didn't know you, I'd say you're going soft."

"Shut up, Roy." Jason barked. "You don't know anything."

Roy chuckled a little. "Whatever you say." He lifted his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, I think Nightwing has rubbed off on you."

Jason snarled again, but turned away, and Roy, apparently deciding that it was pointless to argue, began a new subject.

"Anyway, what now?"

"Well, if this—" Jason tapped the pocked holding the vial "Doesn't turn out to be anything important, then I was thinking we should head to Qurac. There's rumors of a revolt, and you know how much I love revolutions."

"Huh." Roy nodded. "So we're still not gonna go after the Joker?"

Jason twitched involuntarily. "No. He's in Arkham again, and the last thing I feel like dealing with is an angry Bat because I broke in there again, on top of the psychotic clown. We'll just wait until he escapes again."

"Fair enough. So we heading back to figure out what kinda goo that is?"

"Not right now." Jason's back was still turned. "Well, you are but I'll deal with it later. I have—something I have to do. Alone."

Roy looked confused, but did not protest as his partner disappeared into the night.

————————————————————————

Artemis was barely paying attention to the magazine she had intended to read, the afternoon news droning on in the background as she lay sprawled on the couch, waiting for Wally to return.

The smell of freshly cooked pasta filled the apartment as the fresh lasagna cooled on the counter. Lasagna was the twins' favorite meal, so she had promised Barry and Iris that she would bring it over for their birthday party that evening.

She looked up from the tabloid, glancing around the apartment after finishing the article on interior design. There were boxes still scattered around the apartment, though this time it was not from lack of inhabitance, but rather because they had only moved in three months ago, after their wedding.

Central City had seemed like the right place to go when they had finally been able to finish their last year at Stanford (thanks in no small part to the persuasion of the board of directors by one Mr. Bruce Wayne.) After so long without their son, Artemis had thought it was only fair to Rudy and Mary for them to come back, at least for a while, and Wally had been more than willing to return to his hometown.

She heard footsteps trudging up the snow-covered steps leading to the door, and moments later her husband stepped through the door, pulling off his bright red cowl, having only just finished his patrol. Normally she would have gone with him, but since the Rogues had been fairly quiet the last few weeks (due to the recent imprisonment of Captain Cold),she had remained behind to finish cooking.

Wally sniffed at the air hopefully, moving towards the kitchen as he brushed the flakes off his shoulder.

"Don't even think about it." She warned him, as his eager hand searched a drawer for a fork. "We're taking that over to your Aunt and Uncle's tonight."

"Finnnne." He grumbled, disappearing in a blur of red, the returning seconds later in a blue flannel button down shirt and jeans.

"So when are we going?" He asked, clearly impatient to eat the pasta.

"As soon as the other one is done." She pointed at the timer beside the oven, not looking up from her magazine.

He grabbed a soda and slumped onto one of the stools at the counter, tapping his foot impatiently.

She could tell the wait was unbearable for him, so she decided to distract him.

"If we have a daughter, I think we should name her 'Iris. We could call her 'Irey' so it's not exactly the same as your aunt."

Wally laughed. "Where did that come from?"

She shrugged. "Just thinking."

"Well, I like it. What about if we have a boy?"

"Hmm." She considered briefly, glancing down at her belly. "I don't know. But I think it's a girl."

Wally took another sip of his drink, but spat it out again, processing what she had just said.

"Wait—you—you're not—are you?" He stared at her, mouth agape.

She folded her magazine, then sat up and looked at him, trying not to laugh at the bewilderment on his face.

He continued to stare at her, speechless, as she approached him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He returned the gesture, his arms hugging tightly around her as his body shook with elated giggles. She leaned in closer to whisper in his ear:

"Surprise"

————————————————————————————

Three loud raps on the oak front doors were audible, even over the sound of rain beginning to fall.

Alfred hurried to the door, holding the umbrella for Dick so he could push Barbara's wheelchair over the threshold.

"Wonderful to see you, Master Richard, Miss Gordon."

Dick smiled, leaning over to hug the old butler. "Good to see you too, Alfred."

The three moved into the hall where Bruce had just descended the stairs, followed by Tim.

Bruce stepped forward to hug his eldest son, then Barbara.

"I'm glad you two could come."

Dick smiled. "Of course." He turned to Tim, embracing his younger brother, and handing him a brightly wrapped parcel.

"Happy Birthday Timmy."

Tim grumbled at this address, but Dick cut him off. "No matter how old you are, kid, you'll always be ickle Timmy to me."

Tim snorted, but didn't object, turning to set the present on a table which had a few other gifts on it.

Dick returned his gaze to Bruce. "So is—" He began, but the older man cut him off with a slight shake of his head, trying not to let Tim see the movement.

Dick sighed. He hadn't really expected him to come, though if there was ever a time when he would, it was now.

"Shall we proceed into the dining room?" Alfred asked, taking Dick and Barbara's coats from them and hanging them in the hall closet.

Bruce nodded, heading down the corridor, followed by Dick and Barbara. Tim paused a moment, looking wistfully towards the door, then hurriedly turned away and followed his family.

The four settled themselves at the dining room table, trying to ignore the conspicuously empty place set beside Tim.

"So Barbara." Bruce turned to her. "How has therapy been going?"

"Good." She smiled as Dick squeezed her hand. "I've started to regain a little feeling, and I can almost move my toes now."

"That's great!" Tim grinned at her. "So does that mean if I kick you, you'll feel it now?"

"Ah Timmy." Dick sighed, holding his head. "Nineteen, yet still with the personality of a five-year-old."

"Speaking of five-year-olds, where's Damian?" Barbara glanced around.

"Hmmm." Bruce checked his watch. "He was taking a nap, but I'd better go get him up."

He set his napkin down and stood up, just as Alfred began directing the maids to set platters on the oak table.

"Master Bruce?" He inquired, but Bruce waved him down.

"I'll be right back. Just going to get Damian."

He trudged back up the grand staircase, then down the hall to the youngest Wayne's room.

The boy was sound asleep, still clutching his comic book in one hand, while the other rested underneath his purring cat.

Bruce bent down and picked his son up, ignoring the hisses from the objecting feline.

"Mm…what are you doing?" Damian asked, though he was unable to reach his usual demanding tone because he was interrupted by a huge yawn.

"Dick and Barbara are here. It's time for dinner."

"I don't wanna." The boy grumbled, but Bruce ignored him and walked back out of the room.

As he stepped down the stairs again, however, there came another knock at the door, almost impossible to hear over the now torrential rain.

He hurried to the dining room to set Damian down in his chair, then walked back out, unlocking and opening the door to reveal the soggy newcomer.

"Jason?"

The man shook his wet hair out of his face, looking up sheepishly, unable to meet Bruce's gaze.

The two regarded each other for a moment, before a rare smile made its way on to Bruce's face, and he opened the door farther to allow Jason in.

"Come in. We saved a place for you."

——————————————————————————

Settle down, it'll all be clear

Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear

The trouble it might drag you down

If you get lost you can always be found

Just know you're not alone

I'm gonna make this place your home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it! Again, this is just a repost of a fic I wrote 5 years ago when young justice was originally cancelled, and this new season just got me feelin all kinds of nostalgic.   
> Hope you’ve enjoyed it  
> -lindsee


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